With the paperback edition of Roger Ebert’s memoir Life Itself hitting store shelves just a couple of days ago, I was once again reminded that I really need to find time to sit down and start reading it. Fortunately, if I don’t get around to reading it anytime in the near future, there will eventually be another option: watch the movie adaptation! Somehow it seems like it would be even more appropriate to have Roger Ebert’s life story play out on the big screen instead. In this case, we’re not talking about a biopic with an actor playing Ebert, but rather a documentary from Hoop Dreams director Steve James, Steven Zaillian and Martin Scorsese. Clearly this is thrilling news for both film fans and Roger Ebert himself.

The news was announced today by Roger Ebert via Twitter where he wrote:

“Whoa! My memoir has been optioned for a doc by Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) and Steven Zaillian, with Martin Scorsese as exec producer.”

Matt Singer at Criticwire followed up on the news with Ebert via e-mail, and he explained that “they say they have a good idea for an approach” and that he will personally be “keeping hands off any involvement.” The obvious assumption is that James will direct and Zaillian will write but for a non-fiction film it’s hard to say what that means. Will they use re-enactments? Archival footage? Will they shoot new interviews with Ebert?

Steve James is from Chicago himself and Ebert was one of the biggest champions of Hoop Dreams back in 1994, so this seems like the perfect creative match. Ebert also has a strong connection with Scorsese because of their Catholic upbringing. All in all, this has the potential to be something very special. More details are expected to be revealed in an upcoming press release, but either way it’s reassuring to know that Ebert’s story is going to be immortalized on film. Has anyone out there read Life Itself? How do you think it should be adapted?