Filmbuff To Release ‘Spaceman’ August 19th
Global sales and distribution company FilmBuff announced today they have acquired worldwide rights to SPACEMAN, a biopic about eccentric baseball legend Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee. The film, written and directed by Brett Rapkin, stars Josh Duhamel (Transformers), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), W. Earl Brown (There’s Something About Mary), and Sterling K. Brown (The People v. OJ Simpson, American Crime Story). The film will be released theatrically in select markets and on Premium VOD on August 19, 2016.
“Bill Lee is one of the all-time great personalities in the history of sports,” said FilmBuff’s Jake Hanly. “Brett’s film does him and his story justice.”
A five-time Emmy nominee, SPACEMAN marks Rapkin’s narrative feature film debut following two highly regarded indie sports docs and more than a dozen years spent creating content for clients including HBO Sports and NBC Olympics. He previously directed the 2005 documentary on The Spaceman and was eager to give Lee’s story the scripted treatment. “I am thrilled to debut my first feature film with FilmBuff,” said the writer/director. “I love to tell stories of rebel athletes and I’m eager to share Bill’s story with a broader audience”.
From the creators of ‘Bull Durham’ ‘White Men Can’t Jump,’ and ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ comes SPACEMAN, the strange but true story of former all-star MLB pitcher Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee. In the twilight of a long career as one of baseball’s all-time great eccentrics, Lee (Josh Duhamel) is cut from the Montreal Expos in 1982 after sticking up for a teammate. Though Lee finds himself blackballed by the rest of the league for his outspoken politics (his views being “somewhere to the left of Che Guevara”) and notoriously enthusiastic drug use, he refuses to quit the game. As of 2016, he still hasn’t.
Academy Award Nominee Ron Shelton, former Dodgers Cy Young Award Winner Eric Gagne, Josh Duhamel and Ben Lyons,serve as Executive Producers on the project along with Sports Studio. Stephen Nemeth of Rhino Films produced alongside Rapkin and his Podium Pictures shingle.The film will open in select theaters on August 19, 2016, and will be available on all major On Demand platforms the day after, including Amazon Instant Video, Comcast’s Xfinity TV, Google Play, iTunes, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, Vudu, and Xbox.
The deal was negotiated by Scott Kaplan and Jake Hanly of FilmBuff and attorney Matthew Fladell.
