The long-awaited Sam Kinison biopic is greenlit by HBO Films
November 18, 2010 Matt Movies, Sam Kinison
Hot on the heels of the documentary and subsequent DVD release of the release of Back From Hell: A Tribute To Sam Kinison, it’s looking like we’ll see more about the life of the legendary comic.
Reports are surfacing that HBO Films has greenlit a biopic about Kinison. The story is to be based on the 1994 book Brother Sam which was written by Sam’s brother Bill Kinison, who would also serve as one of the executive producers of the project.
[The] story will trace Kinison’s rise as the son of a preacher to be one of the most cutting-edge and significant comedians of his era. Kinison first came into the public eye with an appearance on HBO’s Rodney Dangerfield-hosted “Young Comedians” special in 1984. His comedy often pivoted on his former role as an evangelist, with his first album titled “Louder Than Hell. [Variety]
For a long time, director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty) and writer Rich Wilkes were developing this project through Universal before heading over to HBO in 2008 where they had preliminary plans to develop a TV movie with Dan Fogler portraying Kinison. But now the plan seems a bit grander for the big screen. Variety wasn’t specific as to whether Fogler is still the choice to play Kinison for the big screen adaptation or not but you can check out his screen test from 2008.
