MacDonald directing BOBBY FISCHER GOES TO WAR
Chess sensation Bobby Fischer died just a couple of weeks ago and unsurprisingly in Hollywoodland a film of his life is already in the works over at Universal, with THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND director Kevin MacDonald on board to helm. BOBBY FISCHER GOES TO WAR will chronicle his famous match with Boris Spassky at the World Chess Championship in 1972, which if won would make him the first American World Chess Champion at the tender age of just 29. It was U.S. vs. Russia... a sporting event that was televisied worldwide like a World Cup final and was covered in the media as a Cold War stand-off!
The movie is based on a book of the same name by David Edmonds and John Eidinow and will be scripted by Shawn Slovo, the writer of CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN. After how cool his last movie was, I would be quite happy for MacDonald to direct period movies about real life figures and situations for the rest of his career. What he did with Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy with the re-telling of Idi Amin's reign in South Africa was extraordinary stuff and I think MacDonald's work sometimes gets over-shadowed by the praise that Whitaker received for his legendary performance. MacDonald's currently filming on the best script I've read in recent years with STATE OF PLAY, now to star Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck... after originally it was to be Brad Pitt and Ed Norton. Once that's done he will have the option of BOBBY FISCHER or the Roman Soldier movie THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH which he optioned last year over at Universal, as his next project. Can MacDonald make chess look interesting? (possible spoilers in video piece below)...source - variety