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If, like us, you were bowled over by Benjamin Ree's innovatively executed Netflix documentary The Remarkable Life Of Ibelin last year, which charted the tragically cut short life — and unearthed the incredibly rich online existence — of Norwegian World Of Warcraft gamer Mats Steen, then boy do we have some news for you. As Deadline reports, the story of Steen — who died aged 25 in November 2014 after a lifelong struggle with Duchenne muscular dystrophy — is set to be dramatised in Ibelin, a new movie starring Stephen Graham, Charlie Plummer, Toni Collette, Anthony Hopkins, Isabela Merced, and Maisy Stella.
Taking its name from Mats Steen's online alter ego, charismatic moustachioed detective Ibelin Redmoore, Ibelin — which is coming from the producers of CODA and The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum — looks to be following in the doc's footsteps, illuminating how Steen quietly defied the degenerative muscular disease that would eventually take his life, connecting with the outside world and making thousands of friends in the virtual realm of Azeroth. There's no official confirmation just yet on who will be playing who in the film, but an educated guess would suggest that 26-year-old Charlie Plummer is a prime candidate for the role of Steen, with Graham and Collette likely candidates for the roles of Mats' parents. As for Hopkins, Merced, and Stella, there's no shortage of figures impacted by Mats Steen — or indeed Ibelin Redmoore — that could factor into the story told here.
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Boasting a script from BAFTA nominee Ilaria Bernardini, punched up by Drive writer Hossein Amini, Ibelin has no shortage of talent assembled in service of giving Mats Steen's story the cinematic treatment it richly warrants. And with principal photography due to begin in Europe over next Spring/Summer, it won't be long before we find ourselves revisiting the remarkable life of Ibelin once again in a whole new form. Tissues at the ready, folks.