David Harbour is set to star in the next film from “Cha Cha Real Smooth” filmmaker Cooper Raiff called “The Trashers,” which 30West is financing with filming hoping to kick off this fall.
“The Trashers” tells the true story of the rise and fall of Jimmy Galante (Harbour), a Danbury, Connecticut, trash magnate and the purported inspiration for the character of Tony Soprano. In 2004, Galante bought the city’s minor league hockey team and assigned his teenage son to run it. The team gained notoriety for their rough and violent style of play, but also developed a wide fan base as they started to win more and more games. The team’s success and fame all came to an abrupt end when Galante was arrested on 72 criminal charges.
“The Trashers” will be Raiff’s third feature after “S—house” and “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” which won the Audience Prize at this year’s Sundance and was acquired by Apple for $15 million. He’ll direct from a script by Adam R. Perlman (“Billions”) and Raiff’s own revisions.
30West will finance the feature. Producers on “The Trashers” include Tom McNulty of MC2 Entertainment and Andrew Morrison of Yellow Bear Films. Micah Green, Dan Steinman and Dan Friedkin will executive produce for 30West alongside Jon Wertheim and Adam R. Perlman.
AJ Galante, on whose life-rights the story is based, will serve as an associate producer. Angelo Demo is the casting director.
“I feel so lucky to be working with David. He’s a magnificent actor and the perfect Jimmy Galante because he’s truly tough and impossibly warm. He’s also the best person and I hope he reads this and knows I want to be friends with him forever,” Raiff said in a statement.
Harbour will be seen in the fourth season of “Stranger Things” and recently starred in “Black Widow,” “No Sudden Move” and “Extraction.” He’ll next be seen in “We Have a Ghost” for Legendary Entertainment and Universal’s “Violent Night.”
Up next for 30West is Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” with Woody Harrelson and premiering at Cannes, as well as “The Crow” with Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs and Marc Webb’s “Day Drinker.”
Harbour is represented by WME. Raiff is represented by ICM Partners and Adam Kersh of Fusion Entertainment.
Deadline first reported the news.