Weah
Tollin/Robbins Prods. and Animus Films will make a film about the political awakening of world-famous Liberian-born soccer star George Weah.
Sid Quashie will write the script. Animus principal Jim Young will finance development.
Weah was the world's biggest soccer star in the late 1980s and '90s. At the height of his career, he used his clout and money to help poverty-stricken kids in Liberia, which was decimated by civil war. He eventually ran unsuccessfully for the Liberian presidency.
Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins will produce with Young, and Weah will be a consultant on the film.
Quashie recently wrote a film about the swashbuckling explorer Allen Counter as a potential Will Smith vehicle at Sony. He also wrote "King of the Gods" for Disney.
"I'm very familiar with the politics, and knew him intimately as an athlete," the Ghana-born Quashie said of the new project. "He presented possibilities to a generation of teens who were unemployed and former child soldiers during the civil war. He's like Pele, Michael Jordan and (Nelson) Mandela rolled into one."
Young's Animus just financed the Showtime docu "Year of the Bull." Sharla Sumpter Bridgett will exec produce.
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