Rumors flew around yesterday that Darren Aronofsky could soon be attached to an Evel Knievel biopic at Sony, which Channing Tatum has been interested in for awhile. Deadline confirmed the story saying that while there is not a deal in place yet, the key players are in early negotiations.

Aronofsky is of course known for his stunning and unique visual style, with movies like The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream, but I also adored The Wrestler and Black Swan (judgement deferred on Noah, which I still haven’t seen). An Evel Knievel movie would likely be in the vein of something like The Wrestler, chronicling the daredevil who was awarded by the Guinness Book of World Records as having “the most bones broken in a lifetime.”


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Image via Wiki

But, if Channing Tatum is interested in starring in the project, that would probably cement the story on the early side of Knievel’s career, though who really knows (with Aronofsky it’s safe to say no one can really know). Of course, none of this may come to pass, but this potential team-up could lead to a really great movie.

Knievel has been portrayed in a number of documentaries, but he’s also been immortalized several times in narrative works as well, like a 1971 film starring George Hamilton (!) as Knievel, a 1974 TV movie starring Sam Elliott (I kind of want to find and watch this), as well as a 2004 TV movie on TNT starring CSI’s George Eads as Evel. So there’s precedent, certainly, but according to IMDB at least, none of it has been very good. Evel deserves his due, so hopefully this new project can make the leap.


So let us know what you think of this potential duo taking on the legendary daredevil's story, and also which (if any) of these earlier Kinevel documentaries or movies you've seen (and are they worth seeing?) You can also check out his famous Caesar's Palace jump below, which might just lead on you on a Kinevel YouTube rabbit hole, be forewarned.

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Image via Complex