Actor David Duchovny has had interesting shifts in projects over the years. Starting out as the co-lead in the hugely popular sci-fi series The X-Files, he would transition to the more adult series Californication. Among those two most high-profile projects of his filmography, he's starred in romantic comedies like Return to Me or the 2009 dramedy The Joneses. And while his TV work is continuing with the recently announced TV miniseries Truly Like Lightning, some don't know he is also a bestselling author as well. And now, he'll take his next stab at directing since the 2004 film House of D by adapting one of his own novels and starring in it as well.
The novel-in-question, 2017's Bucky F****** Dent, follows a thirtysomething Ivy League grad and gifted storyteller in 1978 New York City named Ted Fullilove, aka Mr. Peanut, who moves back to his childhood home with his dad Marty after finding out he's been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In a strange twist, Mr. Peanut notices his father's illness seems to worsen every time the Red Sox lose a game. In hoping to reverse the Curse of the Bambino and keeping his father alive, Mr. Peanut enlists the help of a grief counselor to pull off an elaborate illusion to convince Marty that the Sox are on a winning streak.
The title is derived from the expression commonly used when real-life Yankees player Bucky Dent hit an unexpected home run in a tie-breaker game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park at the end of the 1978 regular season. The film has been described as both "an ode to the bond between father and son" as well as a love letter to the generations-old rivalry between Yankee fans and Red Sox fans. Nick Donnermeyer is introducing the project to potential buyers at the Cannes film festival later this month under the Yale Productions sales banner, Great Escape. Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions will serve as producers with the former having this to say:
"We're thrilled to be working with David to bring this amazing story to life,. His passion and vision for this film are so clear, and the themes of this story — father and son, life and death — are deeply meaningful and universal."
Duchovny is set to play the role of Marty with production set to begin later this year. Stay tuned!