Carrey & Gyllenhaal-Led 'Damn Yankees' to Address Steroid Use in Baseball

MTV is reporting that Todd Graff, the writer and director of the upcoming Dam Yankees starring Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal, fully plans to update the famous tale by addressing the omnipresent use of steroids in baseball.

Says Graff: "If a character like Joe Hardy - who's the character in 'Damn Yankees' - sprung out of nowhere and was hitting 70 home runs in a season, who would not think immediately 'steroids'?...So [steroids] is not even a side character for us; it's our main character. No one is going to think, 'Oh, it's because he made a deal with the devil!' They'd think, 'He's juicing!'"

Todd Graff is the Tony Award nominated actor for his performance in Baby, as well as director of the films Bandslam and Camp. Jim Carrey is attached to play Applegate, while Jake Gyllenhaal is playing Joe Hardy. The film will be produced by New Line Cinema and producing team Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced the Academy Award winning film, Chicago.

Graff is rewriting the screenplay, which was originally penned by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. The film is expected to be a modern adapation of the classic musical.

On why he is the best man to both write and direct a Damn Yankees screen adaptation Graff, a die hard Mets fan, explains: "['Damn Yankees' will be] a big, movie-star movie...I said, 'Listen, there may be writer/directors out there who know more about musicals ... there may be writer/directors out there who know more about baseball, but I guarantee you, there is no writer/director out there that knows more about musicals and more about baseball and hates the Yankees as much as I do.'"

To read the full report from MTV, click here.

Damn Yankees has music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and is based on Wallop's novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant." It is the story of Joe Boyd, the ultimate baseball fan, who sells his soul to the Devil for the chance to help his team win the pennant race against the Yankees. The Devil is aided by the sexy Lola, who seduces a now younger, physically transformed Joe, but ultimately helps him outsmart the Devil and return to his beloved wife.

Damn Yankees opened on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre on May 5, 1955, transferred to the Adelphi Theatre on May 16, 1957, and ran for a total of 1,019 performances. Directed by George Abbott, the production starred Gwen Verdon in the role of seductive temptress Lola and Ray Walston in the part of Mr. Applegate (the Devil). The musical also featured Jean Stapleton, long before she achieved television fame as Edith Bunker.

Graff's writing credits include Used People, The Vanishing, and The Beautician and the Beast. As an actor, Graff appeared in several films including Death to Smoochy, Dominick and Eugene, Strange Days, Not Quite Paradise, and The Abyss. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Danny in Broadway's Baby in 1984.

Photo Credit: Windy City Media Group