The "Shazam!" actor will star in "American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story."
Andrew and Jon Erwin are among the top filmmakers in the Christian genre, with hits like 2018's I Can Only Imagine and I Still Believe from earlier this year to their credit. The latter claimed top spot at the box office on opening night back in March, only to have its theatrical run cut short by the coronavirus scare, but that's not slowing the Erwin Brothers down.
They and Lionsgate, the studio they teamed up with last year to launch their Kingdom Story Company, have found their man for a faith-based movie about NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. Zachary Levi will do the honors as the former quarterback in American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story. The screenplay, written by Jon Erwin, Jon Gunn and David Aaron Cohen, is based largely on Warner's memoir, All Things Possible: My Story of Faith, Football and the First Miracle Season.
The story of Warner - a devout Christian - is quite an inspiring one: after college, he worked at a grocery store for a spell before finally making it in the NFL and going on to win a Super Bowl and twice capture the league MVP award. Levi says in a social media post he's, "beyond pumped for this one," adding in a statement about the movie that he connected with the "strength (Warner) found to persevere" when he faced difficulties.
"This is the kind of underdog story that sports movies are all about, and the fact that it's true makes it even more special."
The Erwins, as is their way, will direct the movie together, and they will produce it with partner Kevin Downes, as well as Mark Ciardi. The plan is to launch production later this year, though in the face of the virus scare, an originally scheduled December release date will now likely prove overly ambitious. Christian Film Blog will keep you abreast of developments as we get them.