Chris Benoit Movie Lands Director
Chris Benoit movie plans moved forward on Monday, according to a press release from SRG Films. The company announced that Good director Vincente Amorim would helm Crossface, a biopic based on the life of the former WWE star, who allegedly murdered his wife and child before taking his own life.
“Wrestling is showbiz taken to the extreme and Crossface is Limelight on steroids,” Amorim said in a statement. “Chris Benoit’s story is the perfect vehicle for a fiercely honest film that is as much about him and the world of wrestling as it is about America and show business. I am very happy to be on board to help tell this story.”
Deadline noted that the film will be based on Matthew Randazzo’s book Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry. Amorim has planned a chronicle of the pressures Benoit faced through his wrestling career “and how a lethal combination of drug-use, depression, and head trauma became unbearable for him,” the website noted.
Benoit’s sister and the WWE disagree with the book’s take, noting in comments to The2Count.com that Benoit’s heart was so enlarged during the postmortem examination that doctors believed he would have only lived a maximum of 10 months longer had he not taken his own life.
SRG Films head Dale Alexander Carnegie complimented Amorim’s past achievements, stating his films were “not only thrilling, but also touching, two things we hope to bring to our film.”
A Chris Benoit movie has been in the works for quite some time with the most recent news being a denial from Ray Donovan star Liev Schreiber that he’d signed on for the part.
The rumors that Schreiber would take on the role first broke July 11. More on those here:
It took Schreiber’s publicists all of a day to nix the idea, according to WhatCulture.com.
Schreiber definitely resembles Benoit, but with his show Ray Donovan the heir apparent to Showtime’s Dexter, it’s unlikely he would want the distraction.
Who do you think should play the role of the Canadian Crippler in Crossface, the Chris Benoit movie?
[Image via Wikipedia Commons]
