So, There's Going To Be A Josh Hamilton Movie ...

This is old news, comparatively speaking (it seemed to light up Twitter around mid-evening last night so that technically qualifies it as old news), but that never stopped anyone from chiming in before, did it?

... Some curious news out of Hollywood tonight. According to a report on Deadline.com, Hamilton has partnered with producer Basil Iwanyk (The Town, Clash of the Titans) and his company Thunder Road Pictures on a film that will tell the story of Hamilton's descent into addiction, and subsequent recovery and triumph on the baseball field.

Deadline quotes Iwanyk saying: “I truly think this guy’s story is one of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever read. It’s also tailor-made for a movie: it has the mythic quality of The Natural, the faith-based angle of The Blind Side, and faith is a major part of our story, and the romance of Walk the Line."

Affleck (whose only other directorial credit is the quasi documentary I'm Still Here starring his pal Joaquin Phoenix) is attached as writer and director. It's not clear if he also intends to play Hamilton. According to the report, the project will be shopped to studios in the next week or so, with Warner Bros. getting first crack at it. Assuming one of the studios bites, the development process would formally commence.

I'm not exactly surprised that they're doing a big-screen adaptation on Hamilton, because I always kind of figured that some enterprising studio would decide that they could do a proper job of creating a compelling on-screen product with his story (and make a whole lot of money doing so) ... I will echo those who find the timing on this rather strange, though, given that his free agency (and probable departure from Texas) is looming about six months away, and given that there really isn't a happy ending there as of yet (unless you want to play up the AL MVP/trips to the World Series), and given that he suffered another pretty high-profile slip-up just a few months ago.

It's also interesting to ponder what the target demographic is for this film, provided that it gets green-lit and properly funded and produced in the next year or two (or three?) ... is this a film that all baseball fans are going to want to go see, ala Moneyball? Are they aiming for a Christian audience with this film? I know it may only matter a little bit within the wider context of movie viewership/revenue, but will an ever-expanding Rangers fan base be all that interested in going to see this if Hamilton leaves town? And though I hate to even acknowledge the possibility, what happens to the project if Hamilton is injured/struggles hard/suffers another relapse during the production?

That's part of the problem with trying to do a film on a subject that's still heavily active (if not in his prime) in his chosen profession. Sometimes, the story doesn't turn out to have a happy ending.