Kenan Thompson’s production company is developing a biopic on the late Randy Poffo a.k.a. “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
The long-tenured SNL performer’s company, Artists for Artists, which Thompson runs with Johnny Ryan Jr., is working on a film on the life of Savage, according to Deadline.
The site reports that the project stems from a script written by Savage’s late brother, Lanny Poffo (“The Genius”), and Eric Shapiro, and is moving forward with the working title Macho.
Johnny Ryan Jr. is quoted as saying, “Macho Man Randy Savage was the greatest showman of all time and the OG bad boy of entertainment. His outfits were as electric as his personality and he’s so much more than an artist, he’s an icon. Lanny and Eric did a great job capturing this story and the crazy 80s wrestling era that turnt wrestling figures into life long pop culture icons”.
Savage was born in 1952 in Ohio and became a highly touted baseball prospect, and played in various farm systems for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox. After being cut by the White Sox in 1975, he followed in his father’s footsteps into professional wrestling and took the name “Savage” after a suggestion by booker/wrestler Ole Anderson.
Savage became a prolific personality and, after wrestling for his father’s ICW outlaw group, Georgia, and Memphis, he was recruited by the WWF during its expansion and joined in 1985.
His career ascended from winning the Intercontinental Championship in 1986 to becoming the company’s world champion in 1988 and becoming a major draw in feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ted DiBiase during this era.
After the end of his second title reign in 1992, he was phased out in favor of a role on commentary and left the company in 1994 to work for WCW. He had a new lease in the promotion, becoming a top babyface and rejuvenating the promotion’s attendance through a feud with Ric Flair before the launch of the New World Order.
He stayed in WCW through 2000 and largely drifted away from the industry, save for a brief cup of coffee with TNA in the fall of 2004.
Savage died of a heart attack in May 2011, sustained while he was driving at age 58.
Deadline reports that Thompson and Ryan Jr. will share producer duties with Paul Coy Allen, Jonathon Davino, Cory Litwin, and Boris Shvarts, with Monica Weber serving as the executive producer on the project.
