According to The L.A. Times, the movie will highlight more than just Robinson's legacy as the first African-American allowed in the MLB.
Redford's film will look less at the specifics of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier and more at the complex relationship between Rickey, who scholars believed integrated baseball for reasons of both idealism and economics, and Robinson, the shortstop who faced tremendous discrimination when he signed with the Dodgers system in 1945.
"No one really knows the Rickey part, the political maneuvers and the partnership they had to share," Redford said. "It's the story underneath the story you thought you knew." (Rickey, the subject of a new biography by Jimmy Breslin, is a former player who also ushered in other innovations, including the modern farm system and the use of equipment such as the batting helmet. Redford has a long association with baseball; he played at Van Nuys High with Don Drysdale and most recently threw out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs' season opener.)
Tell me you had the same thought: "Not another 'Congratulations, white man!' movie buttressed by historical circumstance." I love baseball movies and I love Redford in baseball movies, but I don't know if Branch Rickey's story is the right one to adapt following the skepticism about The Blind Side's tale of patrician-white-saint-saves-poor-talented-black-person. The story of Jackie Robinson, of course, is one of the most amazing in sports history -- and I hope Redford's film is almost wholly a testament to him. Yes, Branch Rickey is a substantial part of Robinson's legacy, but... God. It'd just be nice if this weren't annoying. I hope it isn't.
Robert Redford will star in revamped tale of Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson [LAT]