Sam Claflin (THE HUNGER GAMES franchise, THE RIOT CLUB, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES) is set to star in the soccer legend biopic ROBIN FRIDAY, to be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Henry-Alex Rubin (MURDERBALL, DISCONNECT), it was announced today by producers Mike Young, Julian Stone and Paolo Hewitt of RF Movie Productions Ltd. Financing partners include Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta.
Fortitude International, co-founded by Nadine de Barros, Robert Ogden Barnum and Daniel Wagner, will handle foreign rights and will present the project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. De Barros will be supported by her sales team including Katie Irwin, VP of International and Samantha Peel, Director of International Sales and Marketing.
CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for ROBIN FRIDAY, will represent the film’s North American rights.
Based on the biography The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story, co-written by acclaimed music and sports author Paolo Hewitt, the screenplay was written by Stone and Hewitt.
Scheduled for a fall shoot in the UK, the feature film was developed with funding and support from Film Cymru Wales. Additional casting is underway to bring an authentic soccer presence to Robin Friday’s world including casting real life professional soccer players.
Claflin will play the lead role of Robin Friday, the controversial and wild English soccer legend who played for Reading and Cardiff, Wales in the 1970s and died tragically at the young age of thirty eight. Friday’s short-lived, but brilliant talent continues to be remembered by his fans, and in 2004 he was voted “all time cult hero” in a BBC poll. He was just as well known for his hedonistic lifestyle off the field and was named #1 in a Channel 4 list of soccer “Bad Boys.”
“This will not just be a film about cheering a goal, but about tears and laughs and music and silence and anger and love…because this working-class hero with outrageous talent lived it all. It was a time before the age of privileged athletes, a time when the fans lived next door to their heroes. As Robin Friday walked down the streets of the 70’s, everybody wanted to be him. But quite frankly, no one else had the balls…” said Stone.
“Robin Friday’s legacy continues to live on today and is a story tailor-made for the big screen given the larger-than-life energy which Friday brought to the sport and his life. The talented
Sam Claflin is the perfect actor to fill the shoes of this British legend due to his background in the sport prior to pursuing his acting career,” said de Barros.
Sam Claflin will next be seen in the final installment of Lionsgate’s global box office phenomenon, THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2, co-starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, coming to theatres worldwide in November 2015. Claflin’s film credits also include Disney’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES with Johnny Depp, Lone Scherfig’s recently released THE RIOT CLUB, and LOVE, ROSIE. He is currently shooting ME BEFORE YOU with Emilia Clarke and Janet McTeer for New Line, then will next film THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF, which re-teams him with Scherfig, and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, opposite Kristen Stewart.
Henry-Alex Rubin previously directed DISCONNECT starring Jason Bateman, Alexander Skarsgård, Paula Patton and Andrea Riseborough, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Festivals, and was released in the US in 2012. He directed the documentary MURDERBALL, which was nominated for an Oscar and won the Audience Award at Sundance. Rubin is one of the top five most award-winning commercials directors in the world, with campaigns for brands such as Adidas, Gatorade, Volvo, VW, Samsung, Coke, Microsoft, and Google.
Mike Young is a successful award-winning animation producer who is well known for his children’s book series SuperTed which he adapted into a UK animated series which ran from 1983-1985 and won a BAFTA Award. The series was adapted in the US by Hanna Barbera which produced "The Further Adventures of SuperTed.” His other credits include “Hero 108,” “Chloe’s Closet,” “Dive Olly Dive,” and “Pet Alien” in addition to producing “Zevo-3” for Skechers Entertainment, “Strawberry Shortcake” for American Greetings and “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” “Clifford’s Puppy Days” and “Clifford’s Big Movie” for Warner Bros. Currently Young is in production on the feature animated film NORM OF THE NORTH with the voices of Rob Schneider, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong and Bill Nighy which will be released by Lionsgate in January 2016.
Paolo Hewitt started his writing career in the music press in 1980, working as a staff member for Melody Maker and NME. In 1990, he went freelance and has since authored twenty books, his subjects including The Beatles, David Bowie and Oasis. He has also written three football books, including The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story. He recently published two autobiographical works that detailed his childhood in care, whilst his novel The Mumper was turned into a film starring the late Bob Hoskins.
As a Producer, Julian Stone was instrumental in setting up the multi award-winning Young Adult Unwind series of books by Neal Shusterman at Constantin Film, and is developing Bruiser (also by Shusterman) and the historical drama SAVAGE, based on the book Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button. His screenplays include BANG, BANG!, THE DIVE IN and THE CAT HUNT (co-writer). As an actor, he has appeared on the stage in London, Edinburgh, New York and Los Angeles. His more recent work includes Harry in Tracy Letts’ stage play Man from Nebraska, directed by William Friedkin. He has worked extensively in television and film, guest-starring and recurring on many popular TV shows, and has contributed a variety of voices to some of the world’s most popular video games.
Global Film Partners is an Amsterdam-based finance company that invests in international productions run by Managing Partners Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt. Previous investments of its group include KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN, BOYCHOIR and BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA.
Established in 1988, Telegael is a multi-Emmy and IFTA award-winning studio engaged in film, television and animation production. Based in Galway, Telegael partners with international studios, distributors and broadcasters to develop, co-finance and co-produce animation and live-action content for the global market.
9Magnum, represented by Meghana Gupte, is a production finance entity based in Pune, India with equity, bridge and senior debt capabilities at its disposal to finance international film projects. It looks to produce strong, commercial and director-driven material, to which Meghana brings her experience in the film and animation industry in the US.
Claflin is repped by CAA and Independent Talent Group and Rubin by CAA and Management 360.
ABOUT FORTITUDE INTERNATIONAL
Fortitude International is a foreign sales, finance and production entity based in Los Angeles and founded by foreign sales veteran Nadine de Barros, financier Daniel Wagner and producer Robert Ogden Barnum. With equity, bridge and senior debt capabilities at its disposal, the new sales and financing venture can fully finance projects and is looking to produce strong, commercial and director driven material. Fortitude will be a haven for filmmakers and artists to make creatively and commercially successful films. In addition to feature films, the partners are also sourcing and financing TV series and minis, capitalizing on de Barros’ experience in the medium.
Fortitude’s Cannes slate includes THE RUNNER starring Nicolas Cage which will make its market premiere screening at the upcoming Cannes Film Market; BARTON & CHARLIE, to be directed and star Rupert Friend opposite Emily Blunt and THIS MAN, THIS WOMAN, produced by Mike Lobell and to be directed by Isabel Coixet with Penelope Cruz and Diane Kruger, both in pre-production.
Titles also include THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES with Jennifer Garner and Mat Dillon in pre-production; the thriller URGE starring Pierce Brosnan and Ashley Greene; DAUGHTER OF GOD with Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas; VINCENT-N-ROXXY starring Emile Hirsch and Zoë Kravitz and the Sundance Film Festival hit THE END OF THE TOUR, James Ponsoldt’s follow up to THE SPECTACULAR NOW starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel, which will be released by A24 Films in July 2015.
Fortitude recently announced they will be handling international sales for QED International’s key-market sales at the 2015 Cannes Film Market. Titles include Barry Levinson’s comedy ROCK THE KASBAH which will make its market premiere screening, Jason Bateman’s THE FAMILY FANG for which they will premiere new footage, 2015 Tribeca Film Festival entry FRANNY with Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning and Theo James, TIME OUT OF MIND also with Gere from writer/director Oren Moverman and STRANGE BUT TRUE, starring Imogen Poots, Bill Paxton and Melissa Leo, currently in production.