EXCLUSIVE: Ed Burns and writer-director Doug Atchison are teaming to put Turk on the ice. The duo will develop a feature film about former Boston Bruins player Derek “Turk” Sanderson, the talented but troubled member of the Stanley Cup-winning Bruins in the 1970s. Burns will co-star as Sanderson’s father and also serve as co-producer on the project, which is scheduled to begin filming next year in Boston. Akeelah And The Bee director-writer Atchison will helm Turk from his own screenplay, a rewrite of an earlier draft by Chris Pappas. Booze and drugs sent Sanderson’s life into a downward spiral, and the film will chronicle that fall and how his superstar teammate Bobby Orr helped him get his life back together. The role of Sanderson has not been cast. Tenth Green Productions will produced the film with Burns and Aaron Lubin’s Marlboro Road Gang. Atchison is repped by UTA and the Pitt Group; Burns is repped by UTA and Cinetic Management.

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