Glen Powell is set to star in a Universal Pictures film about baseball legend Lou Gehrig, with Richard Linklater attached to direct, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The project brings together a notable creative team, including Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich on script duties and Lorne Michaels producing, and marks a fresh collaboration between Powell and Linklater, who previously worked together on Hit Man and Everybody Wants Some!! The casting continues Powell's rise as a leading man following a string of high-profile roles.

The as-yet-untitled project is produced by Michaels and Erin David for Broadway Video, alongside Powell and Dan Cohen through Barnstorm, while Linklater is in talks to produce via Detour Filmproduction, all under Universal's first-look deals. Gehrig, a Yankees first baseman and Hall of Famer who played in the legendary 1927 "Murderers' Row" lineup with Babe Ruth, died in 1941 aged 37 from ALS; his story was previously told in the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. Powell has several other projects in the pipeline, including Judd Apatow's The Comeback King and J.J. Abrams' The Great Beyond opposite Jenna Ortega.