According to CinemaBlend, Robert Redford is set to play Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers executive over the team during baseball player Jackie Robinson’s career, in the biopic about Robinson’s life.

According to the article, Redford has said to the Los Angeles Times, that the contributions Rickey made to baseball, namely being implementing the decision to integrate the Dodgers in order to hire Robinson, goes under-reported. “No one knows the Rickey part,” he said, “the political maneuvers and the partnership they had to share. It’s the story underneath the story you thought you knew.”

While the part of Branch Rickey has been assigned, there has yet to be a decision made about who will play the legendary sports icon. After looking at a few pictures of Robinson, I’d imagine they’d get someone like Denzel Robinson, even though he’s too old. At the very least, I wonder if they’d cast Idris Elba, who is also possibly too old, but at least he’d be a different face. My default answer when one can’t think of an existing Hollywood star to fill a role is to hire a relative unknown who’s got the chops. But I’m no casting director.

What do you think about the film? How do you feel about Redford playing Rickey? And who do you think should play Jackie Robinson?