George Clooney to adapt 'Across The River' by sports journalist Kent Babb

Award-winning sports journalist Kent Babb is the author of ‘Across the River: Life, Death, and Football in an American City’. The film is now going to get a film adaptation by none other than George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures. 

The book follows New Orleans’ Edna Karr football team through its 2019 season as head coach Brice Brown and his team vie to again succeed on and off the field. Although Coach Brown is preparing for a fourth title, he is really focused on something else: keeping his players alive. An epidemic of gun violence plagues New Orleans and its surrounding communities and has claimed many innocent lives, including that of his former star quarterback, Tollette “Tonka” George, who was shot in 2016 near a local gas station.

The book is an investigation into the serious realities faced by young athletes in struggling neighborhoods, including gentrification, eviction, mental health issues, the drug trade, and gun violence.