Once again, Hollywood is asking, “How soon is too soon?” as Deadline revealed that Mark Wahlberg is slated to produce and potentially star in a new film about the Boston Marathon bombings.
CBS is fast-tracking the project, entitled Patriots’ Day, and will follow the events of the bombings through the eyes of Boston police commissioner Ed Davis, who could be played by Wahlberg himself according to Deadline. It will also include footage from the vast 60 Minutes archives to add an element of realism to the picture. The movie will be produced by Scott Stuber, Dylan Clark, Stephen Levinson, Michael Radutzky and Wahlberg, with Nicolas Nesbitt as executive producer. While not yet confirmed, it’s rumored that Bridge of Spies screenwriter Matt Charman is in the process of penning an official script.
Why the quick turnaround? Patriots’ Day isn’t the first marathon bombing big-budget project in development – 20th Century Fox is currently in the process of adapting the nonfiction book Boston Strong by Boston Herald reporter Dave Wedge and local writer Casey Sherman into a feature with director Daniel Espinosa and actor Casey Affleck attached. Interestingly enough, the Boston Strong screen adaptation is being written by two out of the three writers who worked on one of Wahlberg’s most successful projects to date, 2010’s The Fighter. The Boston Strong project is slated to be filming this month at marathon events.
“There is nothing more compelling than a real story populated by real heroes,” said CBS Films President Terry Press on the announcement of Patriots’ Day. “The team that we have assembled for this project is determined to give audiences a very personal look at what occurred during the days when the eyes of the world were on the city of Boston and how a group of contemporary patriots faced this crisis.”
Patriots’ Day has secured the life rights to Commissioner Davis’ story, and production may be set into motion this year.
[h/t Deadline]
