Robert De Niro to Play Vince Lombardi

According to ESPN.com, Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro is going to play Vince Lombardi in the iconic coach's biopic, which is in development by ESPN Films. Andell Entertainment and the NFL are also producing the film, and they have picked up Academy Award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth to write the script.

Roth has written such legendary films as Forrest Gump, Munich, and The Insider. This story centers on Lombardi's triumphant struggle to turn the worst team in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers, into Superbowl champions.

"Having an icon portray an icon on film is amazing," Ron Semiao, senior vice president of ESPN Films, told ESPN. "And with a writer as talented as Eric working on the script, the results could be magical for NFL fans."

The story focuses on when Lombardi was given his first position as head coach of an NFL team for the Packers. It shows how he turned the small-town team into a juggernaut of the NFL. The story also portrays the rivalry between De Niro's character and Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, which presumably started in 1958 when the two were assistant coaches on the New York Giants team that lost the championship game that year.