David Farnor | On 24, Mar 2021

Apple is in talks to pick up The Greatest Beer Run Ever, a film starring Zac Efron and Russell Crowe.

The movie is based on the bestselling memoir of the same name which tells of how ex-Marine and merchant seaman “Chick” Donohue volunteered for a legendary mission in 1968 – to sneak into Vietnam to track down his buddies in combat to bring them a cold beer and supportive messages from home. Armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol, Chick worked his passage to Vietnam, landed in Qui Nhon and tracked down the disbelieving soldiers – but things went awry, and Chick saw more of the war than he ever planned, from a terrifying time spent in the Demilitarized Zone to getting caught up in Saigon during the Tet Offensive.

The film is directed by Peter Farrelly, who directed Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary – and in 2019 won a Best Picture Oscar for Green Book. The film was developed by Farrelly with Skydance, and co-written by Brian Currie and Pete Jones. It is produced by Andrew Muscato and Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger. Now, Deadline reports that Apple Studios is in negotiations to fund the film as an Apple Original title.

Efron and Crowe are also in talks to star, with Bill Murray being courted for a supporting role – all of which would make the project a natural fit for Apple, which has focused on assembling a line-up of original films with star names attached, from Tom Hanks’ Greyhound to Cherry starring Tom Holland.

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