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AFC Wimbledon film: Hollywood screenwriter has been hired to film story about the Dons

AFC WIMBLEDON are having a Hollywood blockbuster film made about their remarkable rise - and no expense is being spared on its creative staff.

The as-yet untitled Fox project about the creation of the famous League 1 outfit has landed a British writer called Richard Cordiner, responsible for numerous previous film scripts for the likes of Warner Bros.

 AFC Wimbledon are a remarkable phoenix club who used to play on park pitches in 2002
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AFC Wimbledon are a remarkable phoenix club who used to play on park pitches in 2002Credit: PA:Press Association
 They rose up into the Football League and last summer gained promotion to League 1 for the first time
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They rose up into the Football League and last summer gained promotion to League 1 for the first timeCredit: Griffiths Photographers
 The project has been financed by celeb fan, writer John Green
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The project has been financed by celeb fan, writer John GreenCredit: Getty Images

Such backing is due to the Dons' celebrity fan, American author who wrote world-famous teen-fiction The Fault In Our Stars, who fell in love with the clubs' story years ago and invested into the club, having a stand named after him at the Cherryred Records stadium.

When the project was announced last April, most Dons fans thought it was an April Fool's Joke and for ages it had no writer - but  the story about its formation in 2002, when it held trials on Wimbledon Common, is real and now gathering pace.

The phoenix club was founded by fans after the old Wimbledon FC was given permission to relocate 56 miles to Milton Keynes, reaching the Football League in 2011 following five promotions in nine years and going up to League 1 via the playoffs last summer.

The original Wimbledon FC had a long and proud history dating back to the 19th century and famously won the 1989 FA Cup with the Crazy Gang group of players.

Green said at the time: "AFC Wimbledon isn't just one of the best underdog stories in sports history; it's also a story about a community that fought the injustice of the Milton Keynes debacle and is now fighting to have a stadium back in Wimbledon."

 The old Wimbledon reached the top flight in the late 1980s in the era of the Crazy Gang
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The old Wimbledon reached the top flight in the late 1980s in the era of the Crazy GangCredit: Offside Sports Photography
 The club are famous for their Womble mascot
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The club are famous for their Womble mascotCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

But Matthew Breach, chair of the Dons Trust which owns the club, said the deal was "a fantastic opportunity to tell a great story".

It is not the only British non-fiction football film in the offing, with a film being made about Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - after former Crazy Gang star Vinnie Jones confirmed he will play Vardy's former Foxes boss Nigel Pearson.

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