Jon Hamm Attached To Disney's MILLION DOLLAR ARM
Mad Men's Jon Hamm is set for his next big screen role in Disney's Million Dollar Arm. Deadline reports that Hamm is attached to play a sports agent in the drama "based on the true story of how sports agent J.B. Bernstein discovered professional pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel through a reality show he staged in India with cricket players." The script was penned by Thomas McCarthy. Filming is planned for the fall on the film, which is being produced by Mayhem Pictures’ Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray along with Joe Roth and Palak Patel of Roth Films.
Here is some background information about Hamm's character:
Bernstein repped top talent, but was burnt out and disillusioned until he watched the cricket game on late night TV and noticed how similar the game’s throwing motion was to that of baseball pitchers. He headed to India and wound up hatching the reality show Million Dollar Arm and auditioning 40,000 hopefuls. He brought back the two 19-year old finalists to the U.S., but it wasn’t as simple as signing with a ball club and heading to the minor leagues. Neither player had ever ventured beyond their rural village and Bernstein had to teach them as much about American culture and speaking English as he did the rules of baseball. All the work paid off when the imports became the first Indian players to sign pro baseball teams when they got contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
I love Mad Men, and am interested in seeing Hamm do more feature film roles. I think he can easily handle being a leading man, instead of the supporting roles he has played in features. What do you think?