The bitter brotherly conflict that led to the creation of Adidas and Puma sports shoes in the same small German town in the 1940s is being adapted into a television series, according to producers’ announcement on Sunday.
No Fat Ego, a Hollywood-based director, is sponsoring the project, which is supported by the Adolf “Adi” Dassler-founded Adidas empire.
One of the most intriguing fraternal conflicts in corporate history pitted Adi against his brother Rudolf (“Rudi”), who later founded rival Puma, will be explored in this film.
Before starting a family-owned footwear business, the two men started dating after World War II, splitting their town Herzogenaurach due to current conflicts.
Mark Williams, the writer behind the popular Netflix series “Ozark,” has been hired to lead the project. He is currently searching through the story’s Dassler family photos and memorabilia.
At the Cannes film festival, Williams told AFP, “Everyone knows the brands, but the story behind them is something we don’t really know,” the brand’s representative said.
How the brothers were portrayed during the war will be one of the most sensitive areas, especially for the reputations of the multi-billion-dollar footwear companies today.
In the 1930s, both of the business elite’s members joined the Nazi party, as was customary.
However, Rudi returned to a defeated Germany and was detained by Allied forces after going to battle.
Adi made an effort to keep the business going while she stayed at home, Williams continued.
As part of the war effort, they seized their factory, which was later turned into a munitions factory.
In contrast to the earlier hit HBO series, the series makes the promise of being a “Succession-type drama between the family” set over several generations, Williams said.
Hollywood support
Niels Juul, the director of Martin Scorsese’s most recent films and No Fat Ego’s head, claimed he was initially drawn to the story after learning about the collaboration between the Dassler brothers and legendary black American runner Jesse Owens.
Owens rose to fame at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Hitler had hoped would show off white German supremacy, partially as a result of their cutting-edge spiked footwear.
Before releasing the series to streaming services, No Fat Ego intends to continue developing the series without any restrictions on how it is edited.
Source: Channels TV
Leave a Reply