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Barry Levinson Directing Biopic on Rights Activist Jack Healey

by Ethan Anderton
July 8, 2010

Though it seems in the past decade director Barry Levinson has had some trouble grasping the amazing filmmaker's eye he once displayed with films like Liberty Heights, Rain Man, Good Morning, Vietnam and The Natural, I've heard that he's made quite a film for HBO with the Jack Kevorkian biopic You Don't Know Jack. Let's hope he can bring that energy and success back to the big screen as Columbia Picts announced, via press release, that Levinson has been attached to direct Brother Jack, a biopic about Jack Healey, a world-renowned human rights activist who left the priesthood for a life on the streets to fight for the people.

The press release describes Mr. Healey as "an effective and innovative leader in the human rights movement for over 25 years" as he "helped move the topic of human rights from closed-door diplomatic negotiations to widespread awareness, public debate, and direct citizen action." Apparently he's credited for making human rights a huge point of focus for governments and advocacy organizations around the world, and he's been referred to as "Mr. Human Rights" by U.S. News & World Report. This is an interesting, dramatic film from Mosaic, the company behind comedies such as Step Brothers, Semi-Pro and this summer's The Other Guys.

No word on how soon this will go into production since Harley Patton's script is being re-written by Kelly Masterson. In addition, Levinson has a few other projects in his future as well, and we're not sure if Brother Jack will take precedence or not. Hopefully we'll see some casting news come our way soon to find out who will be stepping into Healey's shoes. Since Will Ferrell is based at Mosaic and they've obviously produced a lot of his projects, is there a chance he could make a move for this more dramatic role? We'll find out soon.

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