Jake Gyllenhaal Circling Lionsgate’s Boston Bomber Flick ‘Stronger’ from David Gordon Green
Fresh off box office success of his boxing drama Southpaw and with Demolition and Everest being announced as the Opening Night films of the Toronto International Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, respectively, Jake Gyllenhaal is now being courted by Lionsgate to play Jeff Bauman, the man who lost both of his legs in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and who was captured in one of the most iconic photos in recent years. The bombing killed three people and injured over 260.
Bauman was instrumental in helping identify bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and wrote a book of his experience called “Stronger”with Brett Witter. Moments after awaking in his hospital bed, Bauman wasn’t able to speak but asked for a pen and paper where he wrote, “I saw the guy. Looked right at me.” Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death in April of this year. David Gordon Green will direct Stronger from a script by John Pollono. There are currently two other Boston bombing films in development at the moment; 20th Century Fox’s Boston Strong and CBS Films’ Patriot’s Day with Mark Wahlberg.
The Oscar-nominated Gyllenhaal is also attached to star opposite Amy Adams in Tom Ford’s sophomore effort Nocturnal Animals.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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