Hot on the heels of her Independent Spirit Award for best first feature, Booksmart director Olivia Wilde is heading to Berlin with a new film.
Produced by Riverstone Pictures and Pulse Films from a script by Ronnie Sandahl, Perfect is the extraordinary true story of gymnast Kerri Strug’s triumph against all odds to win Team USA’s first gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.
Producers are Nik Bower for Riverstone Pictures and Thomas Benski for Pulse Films, together with Jeremy Baxter and Moss Barclay. Wilde will executive produce with Deepak Nayar, Marisa Clifford and Sandahl. Based on the book Landing on my Feet, a Diary of Dreams, written by Strug and John P. Lopez, CAA Media Finance, which arranged financing for the film, will broker domestic rights, with FilmNation handling international.
Strug was hailed as an American hero when she completed her final vault at the Atlanta Olympics on a badly injured ankle to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Those iconic images, seen the world over, did not tell the whole story; they did not show the price she paid.
“This is a film about what real power looks like,” said Wilde, who is next directing, starring in and producing Don’t Worry, Darling for Newline. “It is an excruciatingly beautiful underdog story that will thrust the audience into the heart of Kerri Strug with unblinking, raw honesty. It is an epic sports movie that will deliver on all the wish-fulfillment that makes those films so thrilling to watch. At the same time, it is unlike any sports movie you have seen before.”
Sandahl’s latest screenplay Borg vs McEnroe, directed by Janus Metz and starring Shia LaBeouf and Sverrir Gudnason, opened Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for 10 Swedish Oscars.
Wilde is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and attorneys at Ziffren Brittenham.
Sandahl is represented by Camille McCurry at United Agents and CAA.
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