Cianfrance will direct an adaptation of best-selling novel Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. The controversial book was huge a couple of a years ago, notable for rounding up over 500 interviews with virtually everyone who helped turn ESPN from a little sports news channel into a media giant. And yep, the fiery Keith Olbermann is in there, too. Can't wait to see who they get to play him, not to mention reading his tweets on the matter.
While it may sound like a dry subject for non-sports fans, it will be produced by the folks behind The Social Network, and that managed to make Facebook's origin compelling. With so many colorful characters walking the halls of ESPN there won't need to be an emphasis on sports for it to be engrossing stuff. No writer is on board yet, so this may not be next on Cianfrance's schedule. Here's the official synopsis:
It began, in 1979, as a mad idea of starting a cable channel to televise local sporting events throughout the state of Connecticut. Today, ESPN is arguably the most successful network in modern television history, spanning eight channels in the Unites States and around the world. But the inside story of its rise has never been fully told-until now.
Drawing upon over 500 interviews with the greatest names in ESPN's history and an All-Star collection of some of the world's finest athletes, bestselling authors James Miller and Tom Shales take us behind the cameras. Now, in their own words, the men and women who made ESPN great reveal the secrets behind its success-as well as the many scandals, rivalries, off-screen battles and triumphs that have accompanied that ascent. From the unknown producers and business visionaries to the most famous faces on television, it's all here.
