Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler is getting a movie made about his life
A Popeyes employee turned iconic Super Bowl hero in a year's time? If that sounds like a Hollywood movie script to you, you wouldn't be wrong. It's also the real life story of Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Butler's unlikely rise to football stardom will be detailed in an upcoming film titled 'The Secondary.' Rights to the biopic have been secured by Daniel Levin, whose Narrative Capital produced the recent Oscar-nominated film 'Lion.'
The film will surround Butler and his agent, Derek Simpson, and their journey to the pros together. After going undrafted out of college three years ago, Butler was working the fryolator at Popeyes when Simpson secured him a tryout with the Patriots. Later that year, Butler made one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history when he intercepted a Russell Wilson pass on the goal line to seal a Patriots victory in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX.
Levin sees the film as a two-hander, having also scooped up the life rights of Simpson, a small-town lawyer who was handling Butler's blossoming career while fighting a commercial-trucking goliath in court to get justice for a paralyzed teen. "Lion and The Secondary are against-all-odds stories of struggle and inspiration," says Levin. "Derek would not stop until Malcolm got a chance."
Further information about the film -- including its distributor, intended release date, and cast -- are still to be worked out, but it looks like Butler is headed from the big game to the big screen.
