The story of former New Orleans Saints safety and special teams standout Steve Gleason continues to inspire. His years-long journey and fight against ALS has been a remarkable and heroic story that is now about ready to make its way to even wider audiences.
A self-titled documentary, covering over four years worth of footage of Gleason living with ALS, premeired at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It won widespread acclaim as former teammate Drew Brees was in the crowd and shared a photo of the film receiving a standing ovation for its debut. Almost immediately, Amazon Studios has secured the American rights for the film for an eventual release stateside.
Via Deadline:
Amazon Studios is closing a deal for all U.S. rights to Gleason, one of the most acclaimed documentaries to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The docu focuses on Steve Gleason, a former NFL defensive back who played for the New Orleans Saints and was a local hero there who blocked a punt in the first game when the Superdome reopened after the devastating Hurricane Katrina. He was diagnosed with ALS at age 34 and given five years to live. Through vividly shot video journals that are a big part of the film — Gleason wanted to leave a record of his life for his unborn son — director Clay Tweel shows how Gleason took that to heart to live life as fully as one possibly can. Since his diagnosis, Gleason has: gone skydiving, interviewed Pearl Jam, spoken at the United Nations, starred in a Super Bowl Commercial, attended the State of the Union Address, helped pass the Steve Gleason Act, founded the largest ALS research project in the history of the disease, and started one of the world’s most recognizable ALS organizations, Team Gleason. And most importantly, he became a father. The footage was shot over a period of four years.
Gleason’s former Saints teammate Scott Fujita, who is involved as a producer with the film, tweeted this about the overwhelming response:
Response all week at Sundance could not have been better. So many I've met are moved beyond words. #GLEASON https://t.co/opXmnOpGkw
— Scott Fujita (@sfujita55) January 26, 2016
Many outlets reported on the warm reception the film received at Sundance, with the New York Times listing it among its Top 10 films and Doug Fox at heraldextra.com writing this:
As an NFL player with the New Orleans Saints for seven years, Steve Gleason is used to big hits on the football field. Now he is making a big impact in the movie theater as well.
Of course, “Gleason” will never become a blockbuster as far as mainstream movies go — but in the realm of gripping and emotional documentaries, this one is as good as it gets.
Amazon has the rights not only for a theatrical release, but also television and streaming on-demand services. It could be a potential cross-platform release for the Gleason documentary, which is sure to make an impact on anyone who is able to watch it.
[Deadline]
