Robert De Niro in talks to play Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda
Robert De Niro is in talks to play Tommy Lasorda in Tommy & Me, a baseball drama about the long-time Los Angeles Dodgers manager, according to Deadline.
In talks means no deal has been signed. Negotiations are still under way.
Skydance Sports is serving as lead studio on the project, the company financing and steering the film through production, Deadline reported. Reid Carolin is set to direct. The script comes from George Gallo, Cambron Clark and Carolin.
Carolin is best known as a writer and producer. Here he takes the director's chair. Tommy & Me is a working title, the temporary name used while a film is developed.
Jesse Sisgold, Jason T. Reed and Sandino Moya-Smith are producing for Skydance Sports. They are joined by Peter Gube, Keri Selig, Diane Galardi, and Reid and Garret Livetz, according to Deadline.
Lasorda took over as Dodgers manager in 1976 and led the club until 1996. He finished with a record of 1,599 wins, 1,439 losses and two ties over 20 seasons.
He guided Los Angeles to four National League pennants, the league championships that send a team to the World Series. Two of those runs ended with World Series titles.
Lasorda was named National League Manager of the Year in 1983 and 1988. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, and later managed the United States team to a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He died in 2021 at age 93.
De Niro will next be seen in Focker-in-Law, the fourth entry in the Fockers comedy series, due out on 25 November, according to Deadline.
For fans, this means a familiar screen presence taking on a real dugout figure. Casting is the first step. A release date has not been announced.
