EXCLUSIVE: Patricia Clarkson is set to join Tom Hanks and Callum Turner in Sony Pictures’ The Comebacker, to be directed by Marielle Heller. She adapted a Dave Eggers short story that is a love letter to baseball.
Turner plays a young pitcher for the New York Mets whose life is rocked when he is hit by a batted ball. Hanks plays his pitching coach, and Clarkson will play the coach’s wife.
The film will shoot around Queens and Citi Field, a task made easier since the Mets are out of the playoff picture. Gary Goetzman will produce for Playtone alongside Heller and Leah Holzer for Defiant By Nature. The film is being made in cooperation with Major League Baseball and the Mets. Working Barn will be executive producer.
Oscar-nominated Emmy winner Clarkson most recently wrapped the Martin Scorsese-directed What Happens at Night, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. She is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.
Clarkson will join the list of talented actresses given little to do playing the wife of a Tom Hanks character. See: Catherine Keener (drives Capt. Phillips to the airport), Laura Linney (waits anxiously on the phone for news of Sully’s plane), and Amy Ryan (general super-supportive wifey stuff, WWII-style).