EXCLUSIVE: Sylvester Stallone is attached to direct and star opposite Adam Driver in Tough as They Come, based on the best-selling Travis Mills memoir. WME is shopping the package, and I’ve heard the conversation is with Fox but no deal yet. The drama tells the true tale of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Mills, one of only five soldiers to survive a quadruple amputation from a battlefield injury. At the heart of the story is the soldier’s relationship with his father-in-law, who stood by his side from the day he got home from the hospital. Driver will play Mills, and Stallone will play his father-in-law. Fox is acquiring a package that includes the memoir, and the life rights of Mills and his father-in-law, Craig Buck. Susan Carlson, Eric Carlson and James Keach will produce.

Stallone made news just before the holidays when he was courted by President-elect Donald Trump to take a top post in the NEA. He turned down the job and said he wanted to spend his time bringing national attention to returning military personnel and shining the light on the challenges of reintegrating into society. This inspirational film certainly would go a long way toward pressing that message.

WME is negotiating the deal and reps Stallone. Driver, who stars with Andrew Garfield in the Martin Scorsese-directed Silence, is repped by Gersh.