The life and career of Knicks legend Bernard King is about to hit the big screen.
Filmmaker Rodney Henry and his production company, Henry's Protégé Pictures, bought the rights to King's memoir — his 2017 autobiography "Game Face" — in October to film the Hall of Famer's biopic.
"I'm overjoyed my memoir will be featured on the big screen," King told Marc Berman of the New York Post. "After meeting Rodney, and talking for hours, I knew this project would happen. We are both New Yorkers, and he gets me."
King, 63, grew up in a dysfunctional home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn where he was abused and ignored by his parents before dealing with racism in the Deep South at the University of Tennessee.
His early developmental years led to his bout with alcoholism throughout his Hall of Fame career, which spanned across five different teams, including the Nets, Jazz, Warriors, Knicks and Washington Bullets.
His Knick years were the peak of his career, being named to two All-Star teams during his four-year tenure in New York, as well as winning the 1984-85 NBA scoring title.
"This film is more than just an athlete and the love of the game," Henry told The Post. "it is an inspiring story that encourages hope, but also helps teach people that with any situation, perseverance, hard work and determination could overcome anything. I wanted to turn his words into life."
Henry, who grew up in the Bronx, was a fan favorite of King's as a child and had actually attended one of his "Bernie and Ernie" camps, which King co-ran with teammate Ernie Grunfeld.
"He is truly one of the most influential people in my life," Henry, who reunited with King at a charity event in 2017, said. "Any time I came to a crossroad, I would thinkback to all he had endured and people telling him after a life-altering injury that he was never going to make it back. But he proved everyone wrong."
While movie production is being halted due to COVID-19, Henry said he is still in the process of interviewing actors to play King, who must be "handsome, suave and sexy," the filmmaker joked.
