The incredible journey that put a homeless man and a multimillionaire art dealer on a path toward friendship will be made into a movie, and Samuel L. Jackson will star in it.
The art dealer, Ron Hall, made the announcement at Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth where he and his friend and co-author Denver Moore spoke recently.
Hall and Moore met in 1998 at the Union Gospel Mission in Fort Worth. Hall and his wife, Deborah, volunteered to serve meals at the mission. Hall said his wife special note of the meanest man in the place and told him he was to be the man's friend. That man was Moore, who'd spent decades on the streets after leaving Louisiana and spending years picking cotton.
The friendship between Moore and Hall was improbable and at times impossible. But after Deborah died of cancer in November 2000, Hall's friendship with Moore became a source of strength that's now lasted more than a decade.
The men tell their story of faith and friendship in the book Same Kind of Different As Me. It was released in paperback in March 2008. It's been on the New York Times Best Sellers list 19 weeks, hitting number 13 last week. Hall and Moore tour the country sharing their story of faith and raising money for the homeless.
They've had numerous requests to turn their story into a movie and signed a contract with Mark Clayman, producer of Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith.
Hall told the Pantego Bible Church audience that Jackson signed on to play the part of Moore, and he'll be in Fort Worth soon to spend time with him in preparation for the movie.
Jackson also recently inked a deal to play Nick Fury in "Iron Man 2" and other Marvel superhero movies.
