After 10 years of script development and dwelling in the rumour pages for a while, Universal’s Leatherheads has been given the greenlight.
George Clooney will direct and star in the romantic comedy, set during the early years of pro American football in the 1920s. Renee Zellweger is currently negotiating to join the cast. The plot finds an aging football player nudging a young college star to drop out and sign up for a new professional league.
Clooney – who will also write the script – is just the latest director involved, although he has been talking about his involvement for the last three or four years. The project has sauntered through the schedules of several people, including Jon Favreau, who wrote a draft as a drama for Jonathan Mostow to direct.
There’s no word on when GC will start shooting the film – he has to finish work on Ocean’s Thirteen first.