Is a Michael Phelps Movie Coming?

What do Dolly Parton, Britney Spears, John Madden, Harry Houdini, and Michael Phelps all have in common?

Not much, until yesterday.

Biopics about all five, including the most decorated Olympian in history, appeared in the 2022 Black List that was released this week. The list is an annual roundup of the Hollywood studio and production company executives’ most-liked unproduced screenplays.

The list was first developed in 2005, an of the more than 1,000 screenplays that have appeared on the list, over 440 have been produced into theatrical films, according to the New York Times. That includes 4 of the last 10 Academy Award winners for Best Picture, as well as 12 of the last 20 Oscars for screenwriting.

Among the recognizable names on that list include Argo, Juno, American Hustle, The King’s Speech, and Slumdog Millionaire.

The name of the Phelps movie is Resurfaced written by relative-unknown screenwriter Alyssa Ross.

Ross, who acts and writes, hasn’t written or acted in anything that you’ve heard of, she was on the varsity track & cross country teams at Brandeis University and is an elite triathlete, so she has an athletic background.

The tag line of the film in The Black List reads:

After Michael Phelps cements his status as the greatest Olympian of all time, he struggles to build a life and identity for himself outside the pool.

“The Black List is what producers describe as the ‘hottest’ screenplays in Hollywood,” said Pieter Ritz, who is an assistant swim coach at UNLV and majored in film at Cleveland State. “Michael Phelps‘ story resonates with a lot of people, but probably why his screenplay is getting the press it is is because it’s more to do with his post retirement than what he did in the pool. It’s a story that many of us in the swimming community know is just as powerful as the one that made him the GOAT (not to be confused with another one of the 2022 Black List screenplays).

“I’m sure a lot of people are asking ‘cool, there’s a screenplay out there, will we see it made?” Ritz continued. “It’s a high likelihood of yes, it’s all a matter of time of when you’ll see them out in theaters or on streaming. Some take no time at all and will be in production very quickly, if not already, some may take a few years. With so many prospective filmmakers in our sport right now, maybe we’ll see one bring this story to light.”

• See the full 2022 The Black List here.

Phelps has a few acting credits to his name, though reviews have been…mixed. He made an appearance on an episode of Suits and another on Entourage. He also hosted Saturday Night Live, the NBC sketch comedy show.

So who would play Michael Phelps? Ritz mused that Ben Affleck could fill the role. Timothy Olyphant looks close enough and was a member of the varsity swim team at USC, so he could offer a production something both in his acting and his knowledge of the sport – and has a young enough look to play 30, maybe.

Ritz also suggested Hunter Doohan from the movie Wednesday (the new Addams Family movie) or English actor Theo James (who played “four” in the Divergent Series).

Kevin Mann, the head swim coach at Loyola High School in California, which won the California Boys’ Swimming & Diving High School State Championship in 2022, is another film-swimming crossover. A long-time film producer, among his notable works is “Legacy,” the Hulu documentary about the Los Angeles Lakers.

He suggested Spiderman, Andrew Garfield, for the role.