There is a gentleman who calls the Empire office every few months to campaign for more Diane Lane coverage in our magazine. Well, it's his lucky day, because she's lined up a new film called Secretariat, about a racehorse of the same name and his groundbreaking owner.
Based on the true story of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat and his owner Penny Chenery (Lane), the film highlights her journey from housewife and mother who didn't know much about racing when she took over her father's Meadow Farm horsebreeding business, to first lady of racing. That happened in 1973, when Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes to become the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.
Randall Wallace (We Were Soldiers, The Man In The Iron Mask) is directing, from a script by Mike Rich (Finding Forrester, The Rookie). The whole thing's a Disney film, so we don't feel we're giving too much away above when we mentioned that the horse wins the big race. Nor when we say that he isn't sold for glue straight afterwards in a downbeat finale.