Spike Lee releases script of scrapped Jackie Robinson biopic

The project is based on the baseball legend's 1972 autobiography 'I Never Had It Made'

Apr 2, 2020

Spike lee — (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

With Hollywood completely shut down amid the coronavirus crisis, celebrities are finding new ways to entertain the masses while quarantined and Spike Lee is no exception.

The prolific writer/director decided to release the full script for an unproduced biopic on the first Black pro baseball player, Jackie Robinson. Lee took to Instagram over the weekend to drop the script to the project based on the 1972 autobiography titled, I Never Had It Made.

“Good Sunday Afternoon From Da Corona Epicenter Of The USA-NYC

I Dug Deep Into Da 40 Acres Vault And Pulled Out This Script From One Of My EPIC Dream (Never Got Made) Projects-JACKIE ROBINSON. You Do Not Have To Be A Baseball Fan To Enjoy. This Script Is A Great American Story. Be Safe. Peace,Light And Love. And Dat’s Da “Brooklyn Dodger”Truth, Ruth. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF [click the link in the bio],” he posted along with a video of himself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Spike Lee (@officialspikelee)

“Hope you enjoy it,” he said. “If not, that’s alright, too. It’s never getting made, but I wanted to share this script with you. Be safe! Be safe! Social distancing! Peace.”

The award-winning director revealed that he originally had Denzel Washington in mind to play the iconic athlete, but worried he was too old to play the part by the time the script was finished in 1996.

According to AV Club, the script appears to cover Robinson’s life in full including his college career at UCLA, military service, his legendary baseball career and life after.

The 155-page script can be found via a dropbox link on Lee’s Instagram page. If you’re in the mood for a lesson from a master, check it out.