Uri Singer’s Los Angeles-based Passage Pictures is lining up Red Carded, about former Spanish football federation head Luis Rubiales who was forced to quit last year following his conduct towards player Jenni Hermoso in the aftermath’s of the Women’s World Cup.
Singer, whose credits include White Noise and Tesla, said he has secured the life-story rights from Rubiales, who grabbed Spanish midfielder Hermoso during the medal ceremony last August and kissed her on the lips following Spain’s 1-0 victory over England.
Last week a Spanish judge recommended Rubiales and three other people including the former team coach Jorge Vilda face criminal trial after he determined Rubiales’ kiss was non-consensual.
Singer said the goal was for Red Carded not to focus on the kiss and instead explore the power structure within professional football and how it enabled the rise and fall of Rubiales, the former president of Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
The producer said he plans to approach Hermoso to include her version of events. He added the film will not side with Rubiales and will present multiple points of view based on actual events, and will be “engaging and respectful to the real-life events and individuals involved”.
Tonally he sees Red Carded as being similar to The Wolf Of Wall Street and The Big Short set in the world of football and will not make light of sexual assault.
Rubiales triggered a global outcry and plunged Spanish football into a sexism crisis for his post-match celebrations, which also saw him grab his crotch within several feet of Queen Letizia and her 16-year-old daughter in the VIP area and hoist another team player over his shoulder.
In the days and weeks that followed his actions, a defiant Rubiales described the kiss as a “consensual peck” and refused to stand down from RFEF. Hermoso filed a criminal complaint against Rubiales and said the kiss was non-consensual. Rubiales’ mother locked herself in a church on hunger strike, denouncing what she called a witch hunt.
Several days later the sport’s global governing body FIFA banned Rubiales from all football-related activities for three years, and he quit his post on September 10.
Earlier this month FIFA upheld the ban, while Hermoso gave closed-doors evidence to the Spanish judge investigating the case.
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