LOS ANGELES - The makers of the Ray Charles film "Ray" are taking on another story about breaking racial barriers. Baldwin Entertainment Group is producing a film biography of baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson, with an assist from Robert Redford, whose Wildwood Enterprises will co-produce.
Redford, who starred in the 1984 baseball flick "The Natural," also will play Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson as the first black player in Major League Baseball.
"This will be our next `Ray,'" said producer Howard Baldwin, whose film on Charles earned news the best-actor Academy Award.
"This is one of the most important stories not just in sports, but in our history," Baldwin told The Associated Press on Monday.
Robinson himself starred in 1950's "The Jackie Robinson Story," a dramatization of his entry into baseball.
A fresh big-screen take on Robinson's triumphant career would be good public relations for baseball, now mired in a steroids scandal, Baldwin said.
Robinson's tenacity in the face of bigotry and scorn from fans after he was signed in 1947 also would serve as a lesson to today's petulant athletes, said Baldwin.
"See what Jackie Robinson went through," Baldwin said. "You just have to say, how did this man have enough poise and sophistication and the courage to realize that for the good of mankind, for the good of his race, he had to succeed. And he didn't just succeed. He was a great, great baseball player."
The filmmakers said they will be working closely with executives in Major League Baseball and that the project has the blessing of Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, and Branch Rickey III, grandson of the Dodgers general manager.
Baldwin said he hoped production would begin early next year, with the film coming out in late 2006 or early 2007. Kirk Ellis, whose credits include scripts for the TV movies "Anne Frank" and "The Beach Boys: An American Family," is writing the screenplay.
Other than Redford, no actors have been cast. Once a script is in hand, Baldwin said he would hope to gauge "Ray" star Foxx's interest.
"At the appropriate time, we'd be nuts not to want to talk to Jamie," Baldwin said.
Redford, who starred in the 1984 baseball flick "The Natural," also will play Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson as the first black player in Major League Baseball.
"This will be our next `Ray,'" said producer Howard Baldwin, whose film on Charles earned news the best-actor Academy Award.
"This is one of the most important stories not just in sports, but in our history," Baldwin told The Associated Press on Monday.
Robinson himself starred in 1950's "The Jackie Robinson Story," a dramatization of his entry into baseball.
A fresh big-screen take on Robinson's triumphant career would be good public relations for baseball, now mired in a steroids scandal, Baldwin said.
Robinson's tenacity in the face of bigotry and scorn from fans after he was signed in 1947 also would serve as a lesson to today's petulant athletes, said Baldwin.
"See what Jackie Robinson went through," Baldwin said. "You just have to say, how did this man have enough poise and sophistication and the courage to realize that for the good of mankind, for the good of his race, he had to succeed. And he didn't just succeed. He was a great, great baseball player."
The filmmakers said they will be working closely with executives in Major League Baseball and that the project has the blessing of Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, and Branch Rickey III, grandson of the Dodgers general manager.
Baldwin said he hoped production would begin early next year, with the film coming out in late 2006 or early 2007. Kirk Ellis, whose credits include scripts for the TV movies "Anne Frank" and "The Beach Boys: An American Family," is writing the screenplay.
Other than Redford, no actors have been cast. Once a script is in hand, Baldwin said he would hope to gauge "Ray" star Foxx's interest.
"At the appropriate time, we'd be nuts not to want to talk to Jamie," Baldwin said.
