Taron Egerton has just landed the lead role in a movie about Tetris. However, it isn’t an adaptation of the popular puzzle game. As weirdly fascinating as that would be, the direction this movie is taking is much more serious. First reported by The Daily Mail, Egerton will play the video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers. Towards the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s, Rogers became entangled in a legal battle surrounding the game.
Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris in 1984. Its addictive simplicity made it an instant hit. But for a variety of reasons, Pajitnov didn’t see any money from his creation for some time. The biopic will follow the legal battles involving the Soviet computer programming agency Pajitnov worked for and software companies who sought to obtain the rights. Even Nintendo and Atari are part of the original story. So, expect a dramatic reimagining of some very complex rights issues.
The Team Behind Tetris
Jon S. Baird has signed on to direct Tetris. The director is known for the dark comedy Filth, starring James McAvoy, and the 2018 biopic Stan & Ollie, which focused on the famous comedic duo Laurel & Hardy. The Daily Mail reports that casting for other major roles in Tetris is currently underway. Filming will begin this September. It is being produced by Leonard Blavatnik (I, Tonya) and director Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman series).
Tetris is far from the first biopic Egerton will be a part of. In 2016, he played Michael Edwards in Eddie the Eagle. The film told the story of the first Olympian to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 60 years. More famously, however, Egerton played iconic musician Elton John in 2019’s Rocketman and received unanimous praise for his performance. As a result, he won a Golden Globe earlier this year. However, he is best-known among action fans for starring in the Kingsman franchise.