Two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro may soon take on the role of iconic US football coach Vince Lombardi.
ESPN Films says De Niro has signed on to portray Lombardi as he took the Green Bay Packers from worst to first in the National Football League.
Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) has been hired to work on a screenplay.
The film will start in 1959 when Lombardi was given his first chance to be an NFL coach by taking over the lowly Packers.
The coach’s hard-nosed approach helped lead the team to three straight NFL championships and victories in the first two Super Bowls.
The Packers dominated football throughout much of the 1960s.
Lombardi died in 1970 at age 57.
Since 1971, the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner has been named the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
ESPN says the movie looks set to be released around the professional football championship games in 2012.
- Reuters