Are we, as a culture, ready for a Roger Clemens movie? A biopic about the pitching great could soon be in development, following a bidding war over a script for a Clemens film, titled The Rocket.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, producer Teddy Schwartzman and his company Black Bear Pictures acquired the rights to the Rocket script, which follows Clemens during the later stages of his career. Schwartzman was a producer on The Imitation Game, nominated for eight Oscars at the 2015 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The THR report by Tatiana Siegel and Borys Kit also says that the story focuses largely on the relationship between Clemens and trainer Brian McNamee, especially around the time that the pitcher worried his skills were declining.
Presumably, the script would also depict Clemens’ testimony before Congress in 2008 and his subsequent grand jury indictment on six felony charges including perjury and obstruction of justice, resulting in a fall from glory that has all but killed the Hall of Fame chances for a pitcher who won 354 games (ninth on MLB’s all-time list) during his career, seven Cy Young Awards, an AL MVP and two World Series championships.
Maybe Clemens could just play himself in the movie. He does have some acting experience, appearing in 1994’s Cobb as a Philadelphia Athletics pitcher.
https://youtu.be/c2zezizK98U
Perhaps the most intriguing tidbit from the THR article is that Warner Brothers was pursuing The Rocket as a potential vehicle for Bradley Cooper, who would have produced and possibly starred in the film.
Cooper was extremely successful in the last biopic during which he played a big Texan, American Sniper. Could you see him as Clemens? That might now be a moot point, though Cooper might conceivably still be interested in the role. Who are some other actors you could see playing Clemens? For that matter, how about McNamee or former teammate and workout pal Andy Pettitte?
The first name that comes to my mind is Matt Damon, though he may be kind of small. Or maybe Chris Evans, if he wanted to play the complete opposite of Captain America. However, let’s not overlook Clemens getting the role. He also made a brief cameo in 1996’s Kingpin, but you might not want to watch this clip at work.
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About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.