EXCLUSIVE: Fortitude International has acquired rights to the sibling rivalry story behind iconic sports brands Adidas and Puma. Nadine de Barros and Robert Ogden Barnum’s Fortitude will finance the Untitled Adidas/Puma Project which is currently in development and out to directors.
Andrew Garfield, Rupert Fowler and de Barros are producing with Fowler writing. Production is scheduled to begin in 2017.
Set against the backdrop of the rise of Nazi Germany — and through the 1936 Berlin Olympics and World War II — the film depicts the true story of the Dassler brothers, Adolf and Rudolf, and the family divide that resulted in the emergence of two of the strongest sports brands in history.
Lore has it the pair started a small shoemaking business in Bavaria, focusing primarily on hand-sewn athletic footwear. But as their business took off, the brothers grew increasingly frustrated with each other and in the mid-1940s Rudolf set up a rival shop, while Adi remained in the initial plant and renamed the company Adidas. In 1948, Rudolf registered his new company, Puma.
.
Fortitude International will handle international with CAA on domestic.
Fortitude currently has pics in post that include Paul Rudd/Steve Coogan-starrer Ideal Home; comedy The Brits Are Coming with Uma Thurman; Backstabbing For Beginners starring Ben Kingsley; and Drunk Parents with Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek.
