Ansel Elgort, the 20-year-old, 6" 4" American actor known for playing the male lead in The Fault in our Stars, and Divergent will play the title role in Van Cliburn.
The film is based on the Cliburn biography by Howard Reich. Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen will produce the movie with Robert M. Johnson as executive producer and Andrew Stem as screenwriter.
On April 11, 1958, Van Cliburn captured the first prize in the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. At 23, the 6"4" piano prodigy instantly became an American hero and an unofficial cultural ambassador at a time of Cold War between East and West. Cliburn's performances included the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3. As an international audience gave Cliburn an eight minute standing ovation, Premier Nikita Khrushchev himself gave permission for the Soviet judges to award the prize. The win launched Cliburn into stardom.
Cliburn's recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical L.P. in history to sell more than one million copies. He played for U.S. presidents, royalty, and heads of state until his retirement from public life in 1978.
Cliburn died of bone cancer in his beloved Fort Worth in February 2013.
Elgort's father is of Russian Jewish heritage. And yes, he plays piano.
