Kevin Costner To Appear As Inspirational Track Coach In Disney’s ‘McFarland’

Kevin Costner will add to his long resume of sports movies after scoring the lead role in the Disney drama McFarland.

Based on a true story about a track and field team in a predominantly Hispanic town in California, McFarland will follow in the tried-and-true sports movie formula of a team overcoming great odds.

It’s a role right in the wheelhouse for Kevin Costner, who has appeared in a number of sports movies including Bull Durham, Tin Cup, For Love of the Game, and Field of Dreams.. This role will be a bit of a departure for Costner, who has made a habit of playing down-on-his-luck players in his sports films, which have mostly been about baseball.

This marks a comeback of sorts for Kevin Costner, who has seen a resurgence in his career after the success of the three-part television miniseries Hatfields & McCoys as well as a supporting role in the new Superman movie Man of Steel.

Landing Costner for the lead in McFarland was something of a marathon effort for Disney. The studio had been in negotiations with him since last year, with the intention of anchoring the cast around him.

The movie comes with a proven team of sports movie producers, Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gary of Mayhem Pictures. Together they have also produced the true-life sports dramas Miracle, Invincible, and Secretariat.

Disney slated to make McFarland for  $17 million, and Niki Caro is set to direct. She earned critical acclaim for her 2002 movie Whale Rider, and most recently served as writer, director, and producer for the 2009 movie The Vinter’s Luck, based on the novel by Elizabeth Knox.

Kevin Costner has some other projects in the work outside of McFarland. He is currently filming Black and White with director Mike Binder, and also is slated to appear in Jack Ryan and Three Days to Kill.