Sepp Blatter: the movie

One of those stories we couldn’t make up, but apparently, plans are afoot to make a movie of the life of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

British actor Tim Roth will play Blatter, while Gerard Depardieu will play Jules Rimet – FIFA’s longest-serving president, and whose name adorns the World Cup trophy.

The movie is expected to be released in 2014 to coincide with the World Cup in Brazil. The genre is unclear, though looking at Blatter’s handling of FIFA, the producers have probably narrowed it down to one of the following: horror, farce, tragedy or deeply black comedy.

Leuviah Films is in charge of the film, along with Thelma Films. According to the report in today’s Guardian, the French company does not appear to have any previous movie credits, so perhaps it would be better to treat the project with a degree of scepticism.

A video on FIFA’s official website shows that the 77-year-old Blatter approves of the casting of Roth.

“It was a very interesting get-together,” Blatter said in the video. “I had read a lot of the CV and all the realisations [films] that this Tim Roth has made. I was very eager to meet him, and I have just realised that really we have something in common.”

Blatter said in the video that Roth agreed that the pair had “some common, let’s say, qualities”.

Roth’s latest role seems him play Prince Rainier in the movie Grace of Monaco. His next role, as Blatter, has the working title Disgrace of Zurich.