Casting the ESPN Movie

Jim Miller, co-author of the fascinating ESPN expose Those Guys Have All the Fun, was back on “The Dan Patrick Show” this morning to promote the December 1 paperpack release. The new edition includes an addendum chat with Keith Olbermann, who according to Miller feels the contents are entirely factual but still wanted the opportunity to respond.

Miller said there is no script yet at 20th Century Fox, but that he feels like the project is in good hands because it is being shepherded by producers who worked on The Social Network (the sound-alike The Sports Network seems an obvious title fit). When Patrick suggested that he would like to be played by Jason Bateman, the author noted that the actor is a friend of Olbermann’s, which seemed to put a slight damper on the Dan man.

As far as a big screen version of Olbermann, both Miller and Patrick agreed that Alec Baldwin could be a good fit. “Especially after yesterday,” Miller joked in reaction to the American Airlines incident. “Yesterday was an audition.” And maybe James Gandolfini as Chris Berman.

Miller thinks the film script would do well to focus on ESPN’s first five years, which would likely put someone like 53-year-old Baldwin out of the project running. “There’s something really appealing about this ragtag bunch, [coming] out of nowhere,” he mused. “The people that got involved; some of the things that they had to do to get money.” Not to mention the TV monitor at Bristol HQ blasting out X-rated porn.

[Photo: Helga Esteb/Shutterstock.com]