Paul Rudd doesn”t have to wear Ant-Man”s suit to save the world.
He”ll next take on life-saving missions onscreen in the film adaptation of The Catcher Was a Spy. The 1994 book is a biography of real-life spy Moe Berg, who worked for the Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the CIA, during World War II. Deadline reported this casting news today.
Berg is also the only Major League ballplayer whose baseball card is on display at the CIA headquarters – he was a catcher for teams including the Chicago White Sox and the New York Robins before joining the OSS.
When the U.S. entered World War II, Berg was 39 years old, and he decided to put his smarts and skills to use in the war effort – he was an Ivy League grad and has been said to be fluent in as many as 12 languages. With the OSS, he investigated Germany”s atomic bomb program.
The movie sounds like it”ll be a serious wartime story, but Rudd may have the opportunity to show off his comedy chops as Berg too. Friends such as Washington Senators teammate and roommate Dave Harris have spoken of Berg“s lighter funny side.
George Clooney was previously attached to play Berg back in the late “90s when Warner Bros. was developing an adaptation that never came to fruition. This Rudd project is being produced by finance company PalmStar Media.
The adapted script for Catcher Was a Spy is by Robert Rodat, known for writing Saving Private Ryan and creating Falling Skies. Ben Lewin (The Sessions) will direct.