The movie on the life of Jackie Robinson and his time in the Major Leagues is moving forward and this time with some rumored big name star power coming along for the ride.
Legendary Pictures announced on Friday that it has tapped Harrison Ford to play the role of Branch Rickey and Chadwick Boseman to play the role of Jackie Robinson. Brian Helgeland, the author of “L.A. Confidential” and “Mystic River,” has been tabbed to write and direct the story about Robinson famously breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
Movie fans everywhere will know who Harrison Ford is from his roles as Han Solo in Star Wars, Indiana Jones and multiple other feature films over a long and varied career. Ford will be playing the role of Branch Rickey in the Jackie Robinson film. Rickey, a Hall of Fame executive, is best known for bringing Robinson to the big leagues and changing baseball forever. He is also credited with basically creating the modern-day Minor League farm system.
Chadwick Boseman is probably best known for his role as NFL running back Floyd Little in the feature film The Express. Boseman has also had starring roles in the films Lincoln Heights and Persons Unknown as well as many roles on multiple television series.
Jackie Robinson was a multi-sport athete at UCLA and an Army veteran during World War II, first achieved prominence when Branch Rickey signed him to a Minor League contract in 1945. Two years later, he was promoted to the big league club and had to endure countless acts of discrimination. Robinson became an icon of the civil rights movement and is today honored by MLB with Jackie Robinson Day on April 15 and having his jersey retired all across baseball.
The movie is tentatively titled “42″ and has no official release date as yet. Helgeland is working closely with Jackie Robinson’s widow to ensure that the movie is authentic in its portrayal of the MLB star and civil rights icon. The official press release from Legendary Pictures can be seen HERE.
