“A League of Their Own,” “Bend It Like Beckham,” “Love & Basketball,” “Girlfight,” and “Bring It On” are among our favorite films to shine a spotlight on female athletes. Unfortunately, these stories are few and far between. Female characters have long been relegated to the sidelines of sports movies. Fortunately, we have another classic in the making to look forward to — and this one, like Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own,” is based on a true story.
Variety reports that Netflix has secured rights to the 2001 book “The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed The World” with plans to develop a feature film. The pic will tell the story of the 1999 U.S. Women’s Soccer team and their road to the World Cup. “Team USA beat Japan in the Final in penalty kicks with the iconic image of Brandi Chastain ripping off her shirt after sealing the victory with the final kick and putting the team in the history books,” the source notes.
The film’s producers include Liza Chasin and Hayley Stool. President and CEO of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky, and Krista Smith are among its exec producers.
“As a longtime soccer fan, I can still remember watching that groundbreaking game in Union Square,” said Tendo Nagenda, Vice President, Netflix Films. “When I moved to Uganda in my teens, playing soccer was an important way to meet kids my own age (even if our balls were made up of dried banana leaves). That was also true when I left my first job in Los Angeles to take summer film classes in New York City in 1999. In between stealing shots and locations, my collaborators and I would stand outside bars to see the Women’s World Cup series. Watching the USA team that summer made me forget I had no money and little more than a dream to feed me. That team, that goal, and Brandi Chastain’s unforgettable reaction – in which she ripped off her shirt and dropped to her knees in astonishment – made me believe I could do anything, and do it my way.”
Joining Chastain on the team were Briana Scurry, Lorrie Fair, Christie Pearce, Carla Overbeck, Tiffany Roberts, Sara Whalen, Shannon MacMillan, Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Julie Foudy, Cindy Parlow, Kristine Lilly, Joy Fawcett, Tisha Venturini, Tiffeny Milbrett, Danielle Fotopoulos, Saskia Webber, Tracy Ducar, and Kate Sobrero.
The source notes that this project marks the first feature “dedicated entirely to the 1999 team,” which was previously recognized in the 2005 HBO doc “Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team,” a comprehensive history of U.S. Women’s soccer.
