Separated at birth? Who'll play Steve McQueen in his biopic?

Steve McQueen is a favorite of mine. I've blogged about him here. I'm in the middle of McQueen: The Biography by Christopher Sandford. Sandford's written a number of bios - I'm about half-way through it. Very interesting. McQueen could be a prick, but....my only dig on the book is that Sandford's a bit of a blow hard. His flowery exposition and narration takes you away from McQueen's story.

From either Variety or The Hollywood Reporter: "The race is on to bring a Steve McQueen biopic to the bigscreen. Weeks after producers Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters revealed that they are developing a film on the life of the iconic actor, producer David Foster ("The Mask of Zorro") unveiled plans that he is spearheading a project based on a memoir penned by McQueen's first wife, Neile McQueen Toffel.

Foster started in Hollywood as McQueen's publicist before segueing to a successful producing career bringing such films as McQueen's "The Getaway" to the bigscreen. He is teaming on the biopic, which will be titled "McQueen," with producer Kevin Kasha, who acquired Toffel's memoir "My Husband, My Friend" when he was an acquisitions executive at New Line. Dale "Chip" Rosenbloom, the majority owner of the St. Louis Rams, is also producing. Toffel is exec producing.

So I'm thinking, "who's gonna play Steve?". Naturally, I'm not a big enough draw at the box office, so I thought about some high-profile actors who might bring McQueen's style and nuances to the big screen. For some reason, I couldn't get dark-haired actors out of mind. Than I thought about Damien Lewis (who's a red head) and I saw something about him and McQueen on a fan website.

Clive Owen. John Hamm. Dylan McDermott. Damien Lewis. My picks. Gotta think personality - not JUST looks.

Continuing the biopic article: "The producers have tapped the father and son writing team of Roderick and Bruce Taylor ("The Brave One") to adapt. The Taylors will have complete access to the McQueen estate, which Toffel controls with son, Chad McQueen, and granddaughter, Molly Flattery. Story will chronicle the relationship between McQueen and Toffel, which began in 1956 when Toffel was a Broadway star and under contract at MGM. The couple were married for more than 15 years and had two children and four grandchildren together."

If you go to Amazon (and do it through the Amazon link at the top of this blog page), you can purchase The Steve McQueen Collection/Two Editions. The first one includes: The Great Escape, Junior Bonner, The Magnificent Seven and The Thomas Crown Affair. The 2nd one includes: Bullitt Two-Disc Special Edition, The Getaway Deluxe Edition, The Cincinnati Kid, Papillon, Tom Horn and Never So Few.

Where's The Sand Pebbles? It's McQueen's greatest movie and the only one he was nominated for an Oscar. Must be a legal tie-up with 20th Century Fox who owns a piece of it. Never seen it? Then you're not a true Steve McQueen fan. Watch the trailer in the post below.