The Greatest Athlete Of All Time Is Getting A Biopic Series
A new series is being made based on the life of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. According to Variety, The Patriot Way, which is being developed by the Gotham group, will follow the life of the football star from his beginnings as a sixth-round NFL draft pick to becoming a six-time Super Bowl champion. The series won’t necessarily be all sunshine and rainbows, though, as it will include the most prominent controversies and conflicts in Brady’s career.
Tom Brady is the greatest NFL player in history, achieving records no one will ever surpass, and now his life is the basis for The Patriot Way.
Tom Brady was, of course, involved in at least two major controversies, the “Deflategate” debacle and “Spygate.” The series will also cover the sometimes tumultuous relationship between Brady and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Of course, how those events will be depicted remains to be seen, but we’re hoping the series will not gloss over or shy away from the more challenging parts of Brady’s narrative.
The series will be an adaptation of sports journalists Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge’s 2018 book 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption, with the screenplay set to be written by Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, founder and CEO of the Gotham Group, known for the Disney Stargirl movies (not the CW series based on the DC comic book character), will be producing the series.
After he was done winning with the Patriots, Tom Brady took his talents to Tampa Bay, winning another title and saving the second franchise of his career.
Goldsmith-Vein’s other credits include the Maze Runner movies and the Netflix film Wendell and Wild, as well as the forthcoming Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Before being tapped to write the Tom Brady series, Tamasy and Johnson worked together on another biographical project about a sports figure, The Fighter, about boxer Mickey Ward (played by Mark Wahlberg), which they co-wrote with Scott Silver.
While the pair also wrote the 2016 film Patriots Day, it had nothing to do with the New England Patriots or even football, instead focusing again on Mark Wahlberg, playing a police officer who was present during the Boston Marathon bombings (which took place on Patriots Day). They’re also no strangers to writing film adaptations of books, having brought Jake Tapper’s book The Outpost to the screen in 2020.
Tom Brady is certainly a controversial figure, having drawn ire for a number of different issues in his public life, including the announcement of his retirement, followed by his immediate return to football and the collapse of his marriage. But he is also a legendary athlete who objectively may be the greatest to ever play his sport, meaning he has a large number of fans as well as many detractors.
Tom Brady was allegedly, part of some NFL scandals that were blown far out of proportion on his way to winning more Super Bowls than any player in the NFL.
In the best tradition of biographical films and television, we are hopeful that this series will paint a portrait of Brady that does justice to the complicated place he holds in popular culture.
This is, of course, not the first time Brady has been the focus of a film or television project outside his work in the NFL. Earlier this year, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field went on a zany road trip to meet the football star in the comedy 80 for Brady. Brady himself also appeared in that film, though it is not yet known who will be portraying him in The Patriot Way.
