Robert De Niro to coach the Packers

Mike Paulus |

Saw this over on As Seen In WI.com – apparently, the “You talkin’ to me?” guy is going to play Sir Vince Lombardi in a movie to be appropriately titled “Lombardi” and released in 2012, a week before the Super Bowl that year.

De Niro’s Lombardi film will chronicle the years in which he “transformed the Green Bay Packers from the NFL's worst team to league champions.” Eric Roth is the screenwriter (he wrote “Forrest Gump”). It’ll be produced by ESPN Films, which says:

  • The story's narrative arc spans from 1959 when Lombardi was given his first opportunity to be an NFL head coach, taking over the small-town Packers, then the worst team in the NFL, and runs through his transformation of a group of young, talented but undisciplined losers into five-time NFL champions. Also, the story highlights the long-standing rivalry that existed between Lombardi and legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, both of whom were assistants on the New York Giants team that lost the 1958 NFL Championship game.

Through some additional interneting, I see that Packer owner president(!) Mark Murphy says some of the movie will probably be shot in Green Bay. Sans awesome film incentives, of course.