Way back in 1975, Paul Newman bought the rights to The Front Runner, a novel by Patricia Nell Warren "about a [male] track coach's affair with a [male] team member." Since then, the book has been in the hands of multiple producers without being made and, recently, rights recently returned to Warren. Though most of the budgets she has been hearing over the past three years have been around $2 million, the success of Brokeback Mountain has reportedly brought moneyed producers running, offering budgets in the region of $15 million. Warren had been unwilling to make the movie for a small budget out of fear that a lack of funds would necessarily take the film out of its Olympic setting, thus reducing it to "one little college track meet and the love scene"; more money on the table means it's much more likely to finally be made.

Not only is the interest in Warren's book increasing from studios, but rumblings started over the weekend that the lead in The Front Runner just might be Brad Pitt's coveted Gay Role. Brad Pitt? Gay? Why, it's box office gold! Somebody, get this thing into production - we need it by December if you're hoping for an Oscar. (Oddly, the IMDB claims that it already is in production. Does Warren know?)

[via Queerty]