Liev Schreiber to Play Chessmaster Boris Spassky in Bobby Fischer Film ‘Pawn Sacrifice’
Deal Central | By Jeff Sneider on September 24, 2013 @ 6:10 pm
Hot off Showtime’s record-breaking season finale of “Ray Donovan,” star Liev Schreiber has signed on to play Boris Spassky opposite Tobey Maguire’s Bobby Fischer in the chess drama “Pawn Sacrifice,” an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.
Additionally, Peter Sarsgaard (left) is in negotiations for a key supporting role in the long-gestating movie.
Ed Zwick (“The Last Samurai”) is directing from a script by Steven Knight (“Eastern Promises”).
Story finds Fischer (Maguire) preparing for an epic chess match with Russian champion Spassky (Schreiber). Sarsgaard will play a priest who Fischer confided in leading up to the match.
MICA Entertainment is financing the film, which Maguire is producing with Zwick and Gail Katz (“The Perfect Storm”). Production on the Cold War-era film starts next month in Montreal.
Schreiber recently co-starred in HBO’s “Clear History” and John Turturro’s comedy “Fading Gigolo,” which Millennium Films acquired out of Toronto. The “Ray Donovan” finale drew 2.1 million viewers, a record for the series and the most-watched season one finale in the history of Showtime.
Source: http://www.thewrap.com
Great choice.
I love Schreiber’s work in everything I’ve seen him in (Ray Donovan, Salt, CSI), but s long as Tobey Maguire is playing Fischer I’m not going to watch this. Let Maguire ruin Spider-Man movies and leave the chess movies to people who could actually portray a realistic Fischer rather than a Fischer mini-me (Fischer was a half a foot taller than Spassky, not the other way around). If Hollywood cares that little about realistic casting, they can’t expect me to care enough to watch.
I remember Liev Schreiber from X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Salt (2010).
And I will need to see the final movie to know if good choices were made.
He’s a great actor!
Can’t wait to see this movie!