“Hardball” helmer Brian Robbins is returning to the baseball diamond again, this time to helm “Fever Pitch” for Fox 2000 Pictures.
Pic is a remake of the FilmFour pic, a 1997 British adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel about his obsession with North London soccer club Arsenal. The studio has since brought in Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (“A League of Their Own”) to Americanize the tale and change the focus to baseball — specifically, the repeated frustrations of being a fan of the Boston Red Sox.
Robbins is in final negotiations with partner Mike Tollin to also produce the pic via their Tollin Robbins Prods. shingle. Film also is being produced by Alan Greenspan of International Arts and Amanda Posey of Wildgaze Films. Greenspan exec produced the Americanized version of another Hornby novel, “High Fidelity,” which starred John Cusack, while Posey produced the original “Fever Pitch” for FilmFour. Hornby, who wrote the script for the original movie, will exec produce the remake with original director David Evans.
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The UTA-repped Robbins most recently wrapped the SAT-themed comedy “The Perfect Score” at Paramount Pictures, but has a diverse background in sports: He helmed the 1999 gridiron drama “Varsity Blues,” also for Par, and, with Tollin, produces the sports TV skein “Slamball” for cabler TNN.
Fox 2000 exec Jack Leslie is supervising development and production for Fox 2000 topper Elizabeth Gabler.
