EXCLUSIVE: Ben Foster (The Messenger), Leslie Bibb (The White Lotus), and KJ Apa (Riverdale) are set to star in Gable, a film telling the extraordinary true story of Olympic gold medalist wrestler Dan Gable, who will be played by Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom‘s Finn Cole.
Gable chronicles the athlete’s journey, as a working-class kid from Waterloo, Iowa who overcame an unthinkable family tragedy to become one of the most dominant athletes in the history of combat sports, compiling a 181-1 record throughout high school and college, and ultimately facing off against the powerful Soviets at the height of the Cold War.
Jon Greenhalgh, the News & Documentary Emmy nominee behind Netflix’s wrestling doc Team Foxcatcher, will direct from a script written with Michael Wallach (The Bay).
Shaun Redick and Yvette Yates Redick — whose credits include the Oscar winning BlacKkKlansman and Get Out and Netflix’s vampire action comedy Day Shift — are set to produce via their Impossible Dream Entertainment. They reteam with Foster after partnering with him and Woody Harrelson on the Oscar-nominated 2009 film The Messenger, chronicling the lives of a pair of U.S. Army casualty notification officers.
Considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable won two NCAA titles at Iowa State University and took gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics, without surrendering a single point across six matches.
“Dan is legendary for his relentless training,” Greenhalgh told us, “but this is a film about what lies beneath that iron-clad exterior.”
Following his career in the ring, Gable achieved similar success during his 21-year run as head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa, with a 355-21-5 record and 15 NCAA championship wins. Inducted into both the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and Wrestling Hall of Fame, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020.
“In Gable, we have a world class stunt coordinator, Steve Brown, who was also an All-American wrestler,” said Impossible Dream’s Shaun Redick. “He’s working with our director, and NCAA champion wrestler, Zack Esposito, to bring the audience into the grueling, action-packed moments in a way that’s never been done before.”
Producer Yvette Yates Redick shared that what’s resonated most, personally, about Gable’s story, “especially as a mother, was the weight this family carried. Beneath Dan’s achievements is a deeply human story about resilience, connection, and finding purpose through each other.”
Gable will be executive produced by former Chairman of Capital Guardian Trust, Andy Barth, and Graham Manley, with producers Nate Adams and David Gould rounding out the team. Production begins this summer with sales being handled by Impossible Dream Entertainment. Steven Beer and Robert Maslonka from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith LLP are handling production legal for the project.
Foster is repped by Range Media and Eric Suddleson at TS Law Group; Bibb by UTA and LBI Entertainment; Cole by UTA; and Apa by UTA, Luber Roklin, Mandy Jacobson at Red Eleven, and Karl Austen and Jeff Hynick at Jackoway Austen.