Chris Benoit Movie “Crossface” Lands Director Lexi Alexander
Lexi Alexander will be directing “Crossface,” a biopic about the tragic story of Chris Benoit. This was confirmed in a report from Variety.
The title of the movie, “Crossface,” is taken from Benoit’s signature submission move the crippler crossface. The movie will be based off Matthew Randazzo’s book “Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry.”
The movie’s producers are Alex A. Ginzburg and Tony Lee of “Let It Play.” Randazzo and Ram Getz will be executive producing. The following is from Variety’s report on director Lexi Alexander’s previous movie credentials.
“Alexander, best known for directing “Punisher: War Zone,” received an Academy Award nomination for her short film “Johnny Flynton.” Her film “Green Street Hooligans,” starring Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam, won South by Southwest’s best of fest and a special jury awards in 2005.
“She has also directed episodes of the TV series “Limitless,” “Supergirl,” and “Arrow.”
Alexander also had the following to say to Variety about taking on the project.
“I was pretty certain I’d stay in TV rather than returning to the feature world, because the material just seems so much better in TV, especially in drama, but then ‘Crossface’ came my way. A heartbreaking, true story about the dark side of wrestling. … I couldn’t say no to that.”
Mark’s reaction: This Chris Benoit biopic is a movie that has been talked about for many years. It’s been so long that I thought the movie would just be stuck in development hell forever, but it looks like now we’re finally going to get to see “Crossface.”
Of Alexander’s movies, I’ve only seen “Green Street Hooligans” which I enjoyed. I’m interested to see what she brings to the table for “Crossface” as well as who plays some of the main characters. I know I’ve read rumors a couple years ago that Liam Neeson was going to play Vince McMahon and Liev Schreiber was going to play Benoit, but those proved to be false.
A release date for “Crossface” has not yet been announced.
Picture used above is courtesy of Inquistr.