Tom Brady has now won seven Super Bowls. That is more, individually, than any franchise in NFL history. The New England Patriots, who had Brady as their quarterback for two decades, have won six championships, many with the so-called GOAT. The Pittsburgh Steelers also have six. Most recently, Brady toppled the Kansas City Chiefs as QB for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earning his seventh Lombardi trophy.
This is, to say the very least of it, a tremendous accomplishment. Not to mention that Brady is 43. Few players have ever taken the field at that age. Let alone play on the level that Brady is. It’s remarkable. All of this to say, Tom Brady’s story has the makings of a Hollywood biopic written all over it. If this wasn’t something that was going to happen already, his most recent Super Bowl victory made it feel like an inevitability.
Whether you are exhausted by Tom Brady’s greatness (like I am), or hold him up as a god of the sports world, there is a story to tell here. A story of, perhaps, one of the greatest athletes to ever live, in any sport. Not limited to football. If Brady’s job is to be good at football, one could argue that nobody has ever been better at their job than Brady is at his. But that raises an interesting, if simple, question; who should play Tom Brady in the seemingly inevitable biopic? We are here to provide some possibilities.
Logan Lerman
The star of movies such as Fury and the Percy Jackson franchise, Logan Lerman has certainly had a fine career in Hollywood. Though it feels like he has the potential to pop beyond what we have already seen. He has the looks to convincingly play Tom Brady on screen. And, at the age of 29, he could play the NFL star at his prime. One issue? He’s only 5’9″. But that is something that could certainly be worked around if the filmmakers behind this proposed movie figured Lerman was the right man for the job otherwise.
Tom Holland
Once again setting aside height (5’8″ in this case), it is easy to see the pitch meeting on this one. Tom Holland, the likable star behind the current iteration of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, takes on one of the great sports stories of all time. Holland, as of this writing, is 24. That puts him at the right age to play Tom Brady in the early years of his career. Holland has the charm, the looks and the blockbuster chops to make this the Bohemian Rhapsody of sports biopics. This one is almost too easy to picture.
Joe Keery
Joe Keery made himself known to the world on Netflix’s Stranger Things. The hair. That “can’t quite put my finger on it” charm. One could see Keery bulking up just a bit and putting on a Patriots uniform to look the part. Keery is currently 28 which, like the other entries on this list, would allow him to play Tom Brady right in the sweet spot of his career when he was dominating the NFL in a way the world had never seen. The only perceivable setback here, thinking as a producer might, is that Keery has not led a major blockbuster. This is Tom Brady we’re talking about. Not likely going to be a small-budget affair. But that is not necessarily going to disqualify anyone from landing a major role these days.
Dylan O’Brien
Another actor who feels like they are just waiting for the opportunity to be taken to the next level, Dylan O’Brien, at 29, feels like a good fit for a flashy project such as this. He’s got the classically handsome, good looks for it. He’s got plenty of experience, starring in MTV’s Teen Wolf, as well as The Maze Runner franchise, and he knows his way around hardship. O’Brien suffered a devastating injury while filming Maze Runner: The Death Cure, yet made it back to his chosen profession. He could channel that energy to the struggles that come with an NFL career. Like Tom Brady losing not once, but twice, in the Super Bowl to Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Or when Brady suffered a knee injury, ending his 2008 season, a season in which the Patriots missed the playoffs despite winning 11 games.
Nick Robinson
The 25-year-old Nick Robinson is just waiting for that meaty, breakout lead role in a movie that gets noticed. Robinson won a great deal of acclaim for his lead performance in love, Simon, but the movie was a bit underseen. He had a major role in Jurassic World, one of the highest-grossing movies in history, but he was part of a larger ensemble. He’s got the looks and the talent. Provided the opportunity to step into Tom Brady’s shoes, it feels like the kind of thing that could put him on another level. And he’s the kind of actor that could prove to be the perfect vehicle to tell Brady’s unique tale.
Patrick Schwarzenegger
Patrick Schwarzenegger may not quite be as famous as his dad, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at least not yet. But that could change. Much like his father, the younger Schwarzenegger is built like an athlete. 6’1″, 27 years old and gifted with looks, the star of Daniel Isn’t Real could easily parlay the gifts he’s been given to tell the tale of the one they call Tom Brady. Again, this is a situation where the actor hasn’t put a big-budget project squarely on his shoulders. But the rising star could easily overcome that with everything else lining up on his resume.
Tom Brady should play Tom Brady in the inevitable Tom Brady movie
Last, but certainly not least, we arrive at perhaps the most obvious choice. Who better to play Tom Brady in a Tom Brady biopic than the man himself? The football player has some choice acting experience, such as his cameo in Ted 2 but, if he’s playing himself, that becomes less of a factor. Age, however, is a factor. Again, thanks to modern advances in moviemaking, that is also something that can be worked around. Just look at what Martin Scorsese did with The Irishman. Actors can be de-aged now. And the technology is only getting better. We saw a young Michael Douglas in Avengers: Endgame. A young Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Why not a young Brady in his very own biopic? Plus, it would be the most Tom Brady thing ever to be cast as himself in a movie about himself. Your move, movie-making people of Hollywood.