Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee has dropped a gift in the laps of baseball fans looking for reading material in these unusual times.
On Sunday, Lee shared a link to a previously unreleased script for a would-be feature film about baseball legend Jackie Robinson via his Instagram account. The unfilmed screenplay, most recently updated in 1996, is one of Lee’s “dream projects,” the director explained in an accompanying video. The script is based on Robinson’s autobiography, “I Never Had It Made,” and Lee even had his leading man lined up to play the iconic ballplayer: Denzel Washington.
“I wanted Denzel to play Jackie,” Lee said, “but Denzel said he was too old. I pulled the script out of the vault, and so I want to share the script with you. Don't worry about it if you do not like baseball or sports -- this is a great American story."
Robinson’s inspiring story did make it to the big screen in the 2013 Chadwick Boseman-starring feature film “42,” and Lee eventually linked up with Washington in 1998’s “He Got Game,” which also starred basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen. But for those wondering how one of America’s greatest filmmakers would portray one of sports and American culture’s most famous stories, now is your chance.