A biopic of Tiger Woods is reportedly being developed at Amazon MGM, with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground in talks to produce.
The former US president’s production company has previously been behind films including the civil rights biopic Rustin and the apocalyptic thriller Leave The World Behind.
Deadline reports that the new film will be adapted from Kevin Cook’s 2014 book The Tiger Slam: The Inside Story of the Greatest Golf Ever Played.
Reinaldo Marcus Green is attached to direct. The filmmaker’s previous projects have all been biopics, with Green most recently helming the 2024 film One Love about reggae star Bob Marley.
Prior to that, Green directed 2021’s King Richard, which told the story of the rise of Serena and Venus Williams under the guidance of their father. Will Smith won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the film.
Cook’s book traces Woods’s journey from child prodigy to become arguably the greatest golfer of all time.
In 2023, it was reported that Barack Obama takes a hands-on approach to film production, sending director Sam Esmail “a lot of [script] notes” about Leave the World Behind.
The thriller was an adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s 2020 novel of the same name, which Obama had included on his 2021 summer reading list.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Esmail discussed the process of preparing the book for the screen.
“In the original drafts of the script, I definitely pushed things a lot farther than they were in the film, and President Obama, having the experience he does have, was able to ground me a little bit on how things might unfold in reality,” the Mr Robot creator explained.
“I am writing what I think is fiction, for the most part, I’m trying to keep it as true to life as possible, but I’m exaggerating and dramatising. And to hear an ex-president say you’re off by a few details… I thought I was off by a lot! The fact that he said that scared the f*** out of me.”
Leave the World Behind followed a family whose vacation on Long Island is interrupted by two strangers warning of a blackout. Both families must then come up with a plan on how best to survive as the crisis escalates to a monumental scale.
Esmail added that he was reassured when the Obamas argued that some of his “potential plot points were too bleak or unlikely”.
It emerged earlier today that Woods, now 50, recently suffered another injury which is likely to keep him away from golf for another year and could potentially end his career.
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