As the Valentine’s Day chocolates are digested and the flowers slowly wilt in their vases, someone is keeping the love alive. Production companies Permut Presentations and Reunion Pictures are uniting to bring the story of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn’s decades-long romance to the big screen.
That shared feeling flows through the movies they made together of course, including nine projects in 27 years. The love affair between Tracy and Hepburn scandalised some corners of Hollywood but burned brightly and powerfully from their first meeting at MGM before making Woman Of The Year, and only ended with Tracy’s death days after finishing work on Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. Tracy, of course, was still married to Louise Tracy for the entire relationship, and the film will also chronicle their struggles thanks to his battles with Catholic guilt and alcohol.
David Rambo, a writer-producer on TV series such as CSI and Revolution, is the man charged with bringing the story to life in script form. “David Rambo is one of the most prolific writers I know,” Permut Presentations boss David Permut says in a statement picked up by Deadline. “I had entrusted him to write a one-man play on Ronald Reagan called The Lifeguard, which he executed brilliantly. He’s now gotten under the skin of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn’s complex relationship with the same unique style and elegance.”
The next step will be finding a director, and, even more challengingly, actors who can pull off playing Tracy and Hepburn. Good luck to whoever gets that job...