ENTERTAINMENTRobert De Niro to Portray Dodgers Icon Tommy Lasorda in New Film About Baseball Legend’s Impact and Legacy
Robert De Niro, 83, is in talks to play Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda in a film with the working title 'Tommy & Me.'
Sept. 16 2026, Published 6:26 p.m. ET
Robert De Niro is in talks to play Tommy Lasorda — the Hall of Fame manager who became one of the most recognizable figures in Los Angeles Dodgers history — in a new sports film.
The two-time Oscar winner, 83, is being courted for the project, which carries the working title Tommy & Me and is being developed at Skydance Sports.
The film would mark another entry in De Niro's long list of larger-than-life real and fictional characters.
Tommy Lasorda's Legacy
The film will follow Lasorda's extensive career with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Lasorda spent 71 years with the Dodgers, the longest association any person has had with the team. He began as a player in the Brooklyn era before moving through the ranks as a scout and coach. He went on to manage the club for two decades, winning two World Series titles and earning their induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His connection to the team never ended. In his later years, Lasorda took on an advisory and ambassador role, scouting, mentoring and turning up at Dodger Stadium in a seat near the dugout he once ran.
He died in 2021 at 93, remembered as much for his fiery personality and devotion to the Dodgers as for his on-field success.
Casting Is Still Being Finalized
De Niro is in negotiations rather than formally attached, and plot details are being kept under wraps.
De Niro is still in negotiations for the lead role, and plot details are being kept under wraps, with no word yet on how the film will approach Lasorda's life and career, according to Deadline.
The creative team is further along. Reid Carolin, who directed the 2022 Channing Tatum film Dog and wrote Magic Mike's Last Dance, is set to direct from a script he wrote with George Gallo and Cambron Clark.
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Skydance Sports' Growing Catalogue
Reid Carolin is set to direct from a script he wrote with George Gallo and Cambron Clark.
The project fits a growing pattern for the studio. Skydance Sports has moved from documentaries into narrative films built on real sports stories, a shift that includes the Ben Affleck-directed Air and the upcoming Mr. Irrelevant.
Lasorda is a natural subject for that treatment, as he remains one of the most celebrated and quotable managers the sport has produced, while his decades in the Dodgers dugout gave the franchise some of its defining moments.
De Niro's Lengthy Career
Lasorda spent 71 years with the Dodgers, managed the club for two decades and won two World Series titles before his death in 2021 at 93.
De Niro won Academy Awards for The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull, in which he famously played boxer Jake LaMotta, and remains one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation through films including Taxi Driver and Goodfellas.
He's stayed busy well into his 80s, most recently starring in the Netflix thriller The Whisper Man.
