The writers of a movie about Mister Rogers are taking on a project about a very different TV Mister: WWE chairman Vince McMahon.
Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue, who wrote the screenplay for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, will write and serve as showrunners on The United States of America vs. Vince McMahon, a drama project in the works from Blumhouse Television and the WWE.
The potential series, which doesn’t have an outlet attached yet, is the first scripted project portraying part of the WWE’s history and some of its many colorful characters — including McMahon, whose “Mr. McMahon” heel persona on WWE programming has fueled decades of storylines.
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“Vince McMahon is a living legend. We are thrilled to tell his larger-than-life story with our partners at Blumhouse and WWE,” Harpster and Fitzerman-Blue said in a statement.
The United States of America vs. Vince McMahon, announced in July 2021, is set in the 1990s and will focus on a federal court case brought against McMahon. A series of New York Post stories alleged McMahon was providing illegal steroids to wrestlers, which eventually led to his indictment on charges of possession of illegal steroids with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute steroids. He was acquitted at trial.
“Blumhouse is thrilled to be partnering with Noah and Micah on this project,” said Blumhouse TV president Chris McCumber. “Their ability to bring iconic characters to life in a nuanced, dramatic, and fully realized way is the reason they are the perfect fit to tell the story of The United States of America vs. Vince McMahon.”
Harpster and Fitzerman-Blue will executive produce the drama along with McMahon; WWE head of global television distribution Kevin Dunn; and Blumhouse’s McCumber, Jason Blum and Jeremy Gold.
Harpster and Fitzerman-Blue earned a Writers Guild Award nomination for their A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood screenplay; the film stars Tom Hanks as children’s TV icon Fred Rogers and Matthew Rhys as a magazine writer who profiled and developed a friendship with him. The duo’s writing credits also include Transparent and Netflix’s upcoming opioid crisis drama Painkiller.
Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster are repped by Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, UTA and Lichter Grossman; Harpster is additionally repped by Mosaic.
