The Cleveland Cavaliers may have lost the 2015 NBA finals, but the rise of 24-year-old Australian Cavs player Matthew Dellavedova has inspired Hollywood to create a feature film based on his formative basketball years.
As Fairfax Media reports, Dellavedova’s story has inspired a project called Final Four, which will be a feature film or series which follows the story of three young Australian basketball players who are drafted to play for a US college.
Dellavedova, who started off at the Australian Institute of Sport, moved to the US in 2009 to play college basketball, before signing with the Cavaliers in 2013.
The Final Four script was actually written three years ago by Victorian actor Josh Howlett, who was inspired by Dellavedova’s story. The project has already signed on Role Models executive producer Jason Shuman, and The Bodhi Tree‘s Robert ‘Bobby’ Galinski will be the project’s screenwriter and fellow executive producer.
Galinsky has said Howlett approached him with the idea for Final Four back when Dellavedova was still relatively unknown.
“He mentioned Matthew’s name but it didn’t register. I’d never heard of the guy,” Galinsky has said. “It’s quite serendipitous that Josh’s dream of creating this picture and Matthew’s dream of being in the NBA have come together at this point.
“The project is inspired by the real guys who went to Saint Mary’s College in San Francisco to play basketball. It’s quite a compelling story and I think it’s going to do well because it’s like Remember The Titans – people love a real underdog story.”
As for who’s being touted to act in the project, True Detective‘s Woody Harrelson and Hotel Rwanda‘s Nick Nolte have been approached to play coaches, but casting will begin before Christmas, and the team behind the film are looking for some young Aussie actors to play the lead roles.
“It won’t be Matthew’s life story or autobiography, but will be inspired by his exploits in Melbourne and overseas, and we’re meeting with his management in the next couple of weeks,” Galinsky said.
“It will be a film or a scripted series. We see real potential here in following these kids from grade school to high school to college to the NBA.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost the 2015 NBA finals to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Catch highlights from the final game of the series, below.
