EXCLUSIVE: Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) is set to direct a biopic based on the life of legendary actor, writer, and director Gene Wilder after securing life rights from Wilder’s Estate.
Montiel has scripted the project with Jeremy Roth, whose credits include Hulu’s Love, Victor and How I Met Your Father. Aimee Schoof, Isen Robbins, and Megan Freels Johnston will produce for Intrinsic Value Films (Queen of the Ring, 5lbs of Pressure) alongside Josh Kesselman (The Great, Parish) of Mgmt Entertainment.
A two-time Oscar and Golden Globe nominee best known for his unforgettable performances in the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles and The Producers, Wilder remains one of the most beloved and influential performers in film history. The biopic will explore the man behind the iconic performances, tracing his rise from a shy young theater actor to one of cinema’s most singular comedic voices, while examining the personal struggles, relationships, and challenges that shaped both his life and work.
“Gene Wilder was one of those rare people who was somehow funnier and sadder than everyone else in the room at the same time. That’s not a character. That’s a life,” Montiel said. “I couldn’t say no to that.”
Producer Schoof told us, “Dito has a singular ability to hold comedy and complexity in the same frame without flinching. We are thrilled to have him directing this film.”
Montiel is the filmmaker and bestselling author who broke out with A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, the film adaptation of his memoir, detailing his experience coming of age amid the rise of the hardcore punk scene in Astoria, Queens in the early ’80s. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chazz Palminteri, and Channing Tatum, the film earned multiple awards in its Sundance premiere, including the Director’s Award and a Special Jury Prize recognizing its ensemble, also securing multiple Independent Spirit Award nominations.
In the last two decades, Montiel has followed up his debut feature with the crime dramas Fighting and The Son of No One starring Tatum; crime thriller Empire State starring Dwayne Johnson, Liam Hemsworth, and Emma Roberts; the Robin Williams-led Boulevard; Shia LaBeouf starrer Man Down; the dramedy The Clapper starring Ed Helms and Amanda Seyfried; and most recently, the crime comedy Riff Raff with Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Bill Murray, Gabrielle Union, and more. He is represented by WME and Mgmt Entertainment’s Kesselman.
Roth is repped by Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment. David Shapira of David Shapira & Associates reps the Estate of Gene Wilder.
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