Sterling K. Brown has signed on to join Tom Hanks and Callum Turner in The Comebacker, a baseball drama in the works at Sony Pictures. Marielle Heller is directing the project and also wrote the script, which adapts a short story by Dave Eggers, the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
The story follows the relationship between a pitching coach for the New York Mets, played by Hanks, and his pitcher, played by Turner, after the pitcher is hit by a line drive while on the mound. Patricia Clarkson and Amy Madigan round out the cast.
Gary Goetzman is producing for Playtone alongside Heller and Leah Holzer of Defiant By Nature. Major League Baseball and the New York Mets are also involved in the production.
Brown, an Academy Award nominee and three-time Emmy Award winner, currently stars in and executive produces the Hulu dramatic thriller series Paradise, which has been renewed for a third season. He earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his performance in American Fiction and is widely known for his role in This Is Us, as well as his work in Black Panther.
This year, Brown drew strong notices for his portrayal of a ruthless father in Amazon/MGM's Is God Is. He is next set to star opposite Natalie Portman in Roadside Attraction's The Gallerist and will also appear in Amazon/MGM's live-action film Voltron.
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
