The story behind the Brazilian bobsled team in the Torino Winter Olympics is coming to the bigscreen reports Variety. Filming is slated to begin in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Boston and Salt Lake City.
Eric Maleson, founder and prexy of the Brazilian Ice Sports federation, has signed a deal for "Better Than Gold" about his life. Tom Musca ("Stand & Deliver," "Tortilla Soup") has been tapped to write the screenplay for the $10 million pic. Brazilian heartthrob Rodrigo Santoro ("Love Actually", "300") is in talks to play Maleson.
Maleson came to the U.S. in the late 1980s to study English after a small win in the Brazilian lottery. He met and fell in love with Lisa Papandrea in Massachusettes and together the pair found their second love - bobsledding.
They set up the Brazilian Ice Sports Foundation and married during their team's first participation in the Winter Olympics at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Maleson and his team are the only South American bobsledders competing in Torino.
