Just got a press release announcing that the Brian Helgeland film, “42,” the Jackie Robinson story, will open next year on April 15, the anniversary of Robinson’s entry into the big leagues. They accompanied the announcement with this pic of actor Chadwick Boseman, who will play Robinson. Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey.
I’m pretty stoked for this, not just because it’s a Robinson story, but because of Helgeland. He did the adaptation for one of my favorite flicks ever: “L.A. Confidential.” Based on how sprawling the book was, it was NOT an easy trick to get it into a workable motion picture, but he pulled it off. People’s lives — especially complex people like Robinson — aren’t always well-suited to the movies either, as a pile of good-but-flawed biopics over the years shows. Here’s hoping that Helgeland can work that same kind of magic again.
We’re just gonna forget that he also wrote the Kevin Costner disaster “The Postman,” OK?
