Oscar-winning doc “Undefeated” to get film treatment

PanARMENIAN.Net - Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are developing a movie based on the 2011 high-school football documentary “Undefeated”, which won the Academy Award, Variety reports.

The duo, who are in production on “Maze Runner: The Death Cure,” has acquired the movie rights to “Undefeated,” directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. The Weinstein Co., which distributed the documentary, had bought the movie rights in 2011 after the film’s world premiere at SXSW but was not able to develop a feature film before the rights lapsed.

The documentary focused on three student athletes from inner city Memphis and the coach of the Manassas Tigers football team, which had been in a downtrodden state before Coach Bill Courtney arrived in 2004.

Courtney — a white businessman who owned and operated a lumber company — had begun to turn things around by 2009 but some of the best players are impeded by financial hardships or family tragedies during that season.

No writers or directors are attached to the new “Undefeated.”

Temple Hill is working with David E. Kelley on an adaptation of Stephen King’s bestseller “Mr. Mercedes” for a TV series. The company’s credits include the “Maze Runner” franchise, the “Twilight” franchise, “The Fault in Our Stars,” “The Longest Ride” and “Paper Towns.”

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.