In the Works: Casey Affleck Set to Write and Direct Story of Baseball Star Josh Hamilton's Fall and Rise

Casey Affleck is following his older brother Ben into the league of serious actors-turned-directors. Of course the Young Affleck also directed faux-documentary "I'm Still Here" with Joaquin Phoenix, but that counts more as a stunt than a directorial debut. Now he's attached to write and direct a feature about Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton. The film will tell the story of Hamilton's descent into crack addiction and his subsequent recovery and rise to become one of the American League's most intimidating baseball-sluggers. Hamilton has entrusted the rights of his story to Thunder Road Pictures.

Basil Iwanyk, producing alongside Thunder Road and the Walsh Company, states:

"This guy’s story is one of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever read. It’s also tailor-made for a movie: It has the mythic quality of 'The Natural,' the faith-based angle of 'The Blind Side,' and faith is a major part of our story, and the romance of 'Walk the Line.' Casey has totally captured those elements in his take for the movie. It is an extraordinary odyssey that took [Hamilton] from the depths of drug addiction, estrangement from his family, and suspension from baseball to a spectacular rebirth of his life, faith, marriage and major league career.”

"The Natural" + "The Blind Side" + "Walk the Line"? Sounds like something out of an Oscar recipe book.

Affleck's most impressive acting turn was in Big Affleck's solid directorial debut, "Gone Baby Gone," ten years after the two made their mark in Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting." Both brothers have an impressive slate of upcoming projects. Ben's "Argo" is slated for an Oscar-friendly October release, and he stars in Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder," which will certainly arrive on the fall festival circuit. Casey, most recently in "Tower Heist" (we'll try to forgive him), voices a character in Focus' upcoming "ParaNorman," and is attached to star with Rooney Mara and Ben Foster in director David Lowery's "Ain't Them Bodies Saints," described as a modern "Bonnie and Clyde" story.