By Patrick Luce Aug 6, 2008, 13:34 GMT
Adam Shankman has signed to direct the screen adaptation of the John Grisham bestseller "Playing for Pizza" with J. Mills Goodloe writing the screenplay. Phoenix Pictures picked up the screen rights to the book in May.
Cover art to John Grisham’s ‘Playing for Pizza’
Variety reports the film will be a co-production between Phoenix and Shankman's Offspring Entertainment. Producing duties will be handled by Mike Medavoy, Arnie Messer and David Thwaites with Shankman and Offspring partner Jennifer Gibgot handling executive producing chores.
The plot follows a veteran NFL quarterback who ends up on a semi-pro team in Italy after he blows his last shot to at the Super Bowl on a NFL team.
In Variety, Shankman stated: "We want to make this grittier than the book, a cross between 'North Dallas Forty' and 'Jerry Maguire,' about a character who fails in the public eye, goes into survival mode as a result and then learns through a series of events that he doesn't have to be Tony Romo to be a success as a man."
Shankman just finished up duties on Adam Sandler’s "Bedtime Stories," and has been attached to several upcoming projects – including the potential "Hairspray" sequel.
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