46 Years Later, Robert De Niro Returns to the Genre That Won Him the Oscar for Best Actor

Almost no actor in history has built a legacy like Robert De Niro’s over the last six decades on the big and small screen. With two Oscar wins under his belt for 1975’s The Godfather Part II (Best Supporting Actor) and 1981’s Raging Bull (Best Actor), De Niro has over 120 credits on his resume and has brought some of the most iconic characters to life in that time span. Incredibly, even in his early 80s, De Niro also shows no signs of slowing down with his career in the near future.

This year will bring him back to the big screen for an exciting comedy effort in Focker-In-Law, which will reunite him with Ben Stiller and pit him next to a pair of new stars in Ariana Grande (Wicked) and Skylar Gisondo (Superman). While some of his more recent movies have not landed as well as his classics, he remains a force in Hollywood, always looking for the next intriguing character to explore. Now, De Niro appears to have another exciting role on the horizon, as he dives into a sports legend from the real world.

Reported by Deadline, Skydance Sports is in talks with Oscar-winner Robert De Niro to play legendary Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda in a new sports biopic with the working title Tommy & Me. Reid Carolin will direct the movie, and he is writing the script with George Callo and Cambron Clark. As of writing, no details about the plot or the rest of the cast have been revealed.

Tommy Lasorda is one of the most notable names in the history of Major League Baseball, largely known for his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After a short playing career, he worked as the Dodgers’ manager from 1976 to 1996, winning two World Series Championships with the team in 1981 and 1988 and two Manager of the Year awards in 1983 and 1988. He was then inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, immediately after ending his tenure as the Dodgers’ manager. In total, Lasorda spent 71 years of his life working for the Dodgers before his death in 2021 at the age of 93.

While the plot for this movie is unknown, De Niro is sure to explore much of Lasorda’s time as a manager and in the Dodgers’ front office over the late ’90s and the early 2000s. Even with so few details, however, this movie will be a great opportunity to celebrate one of baseball’s biggest names behind one of the most notable actors of all-time.