Will The ’99ers be the next A League of Their Own? It’s been a minute since we’ve gotten a truly great movie about women’s sports. Most tend to focus on individuals, as in King Richard, about Venus and Serena Williams’s father, or the Harding biopic I, Tonya. Team-sports movies are few and far between, but Netflix’s upcoming film—an adaptation of a true story all millennials will remember—is getting us excited.
Based on the book The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World by New York Times journalist Jeré Longman, The ’99ers follows the iconic 1999 US Soccer Women’s National Team (USWNT) that defied the odds for a World Cup win that spawned a thousand bedroom posters. It’s set to be directed by Nicole Kassell from a script written by Katie Lovejoy, Dana Stevens, and Peter Hedges.
Here’s everything we know so far.
Who were the ’99ers?
The 1999 USWNT comprised 20 athletes, with the lead goal scorers being Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, and Kristine Lilly. The starting goalkeeper was Briana Scurry, and the (spoiler?) winning shot during the penalty shoot-out was scored by Brandi Chastain, who gave us this iconic image:
With two women already cast, we have a sense of who the movie will focus on, but we don’t know for sure. Twenty lead characters would be…a lot.
When it aired, the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup was the most watched women’s sporting event, and the final match between the US and China provided a tense and dramatic conclusion that turned the team into stars.
Who is in the cast?
The first role to be announced was My Lady Jane star Emily Bader as Mia Hamm, and fans were immediately on board given the facial similarities between the two.
By Elizabeth Logan
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