It seems Tom’s been practicing his golfing skills for a reason lately. According to an exclusive from the Hollywood Reporter, he’s in negotiations to play a golfing hustler in “From the Rough”, a film based on the real-life story of the first female head coach of a male collegiate golf team.
Ving Rhames and “NYPD Blue” star Henry Simmons have been cast in Gyre Entertainment’s indie sports drama “From the Rough.” “Harry Potter” regular Tom Felton is in negotiations to join the film, as well.
Pierre Bagley is producing and directing the project, which stars Taraji P. Henson as Cassandra Turner, a women’s swim coach at an African American university who gets a shot at rebuilding the men’s golf team. The real-life story is inspired by Dr. Catana Starks, the first female head coach of an NCAA Division I men’s team, as the golf coach at Tennessee State University.Simmons will play the upper-class director of the school’s athletic department that bumps up against Turner’s blue-collar approach. Rhames will play Roger, a veteran maintenance man at the college who knows everything about everyone on campus. And Felton, who is an avid golfer in real life, will play Edward, a British golf hustler whom Turner recruits for the team.
Michael A. Critelli wrote the screenplay and will be an executive producer along with Kevin E. Hooks. The film is scheduled to begin filming in New Orleans in early October.
Rhames, repped by Innovative Artists, recently appeared in “Surrogates,” “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.” He next stars in Dimension’s horror revamp “Piranha 3D,” which swims into theaters Aug. 20.
The APA-repped Simmons has recently appeared in the features “World’s Greatest Dad,” “Madea’s Family Reunion,” “Something New” and “Are We There Yet?”
Repped by Troika in the U.K., Felton has played Draco Malfoy in all of the “Harry Potter” movies, the last two of which will be released by Warner Bros. in November and July. He will also appear in the Fox reboot “Rise of the Apes” next summer and the Warner Bros. horror-thriller “The Apparition” next September.
