Disney+ Is Developing A Movie About Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Life

Sports movies are entirely hit or miss. For every memorable retelling of an epic sports story there are some outright duds that barely look like sports replicated on film. There’s a lot of ground to cover between a sports classic and something you stumble across on the “sports movies” section of a streaming service that makes you say, “Oh that’s real”

What we’re saying here is that when it comes to sports biopics, there’s a lot of space between The Blind Side and Thunderstruck, the former of which is a great film about a relatively anonymous offensive lineman and the latter is a forgettable movie starring Kevin Durant. The next film that will try to be closer to that first title was announced on Friday, and at the center of it is one of the NBA’s brightest stars, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

According to Deadline, a movie about the Greek Freak is tentatively titled just that, and is in development for the forthcoming Disney+ streaming service.

The upcoming streaming service has put Greek Freak (w/t), which will look at Antetokounmpo’s early life and current career, into development from Disney’s live-action film division.

Deadline understands that former Disney and Village Roadshow Pictures exec Bernie Goldman, who produced Zack Snyder’s 300, will produce from a script from Arash Amel, writer of Rosamund Pike and Jamie Dornan’s A Private War.

The article describes the “interesting” life Antetokounmpo has led, which by now most hoops fans are very familiar with. Antetokounmpo was drafted by the Bucks and viewed as an interesting but raw youngster. He eventually turned into as dominant of a force as there is in the league, and in June, he was named the NBA’s MVP for the first time.

There’s no word on how much ground the movie will cover, or if it will include his potential free agency in 2021, but that should make for some significant drama if he were to hit the open market.