The life story of Cuban professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yasiel Puig, will be the subject of a feature film set up by director Brett Ratner and his RatPac Entertainment.

Ratner optioned the rights to Jesse Katz’s April 13, 2014 Los Angeles Magazine article, Escape From Cuba: Yasiel Puig’s Untold Journey to the Dodgers, in what is said to have been competitive bidding.

The article chronicles Puig’s numerous attempts to flee his home country of Cuba, in order to find a better life in the USA, finally succeeding when a wealthy but suspect sponsor arranged for smugglers working for one of Mexico’s murderous drug cartels to pick Puig up in a speed boat and take him to the Yucatan Peninsula. But when his backer allegedly did not immediately pay the agree-upon fee, the smugglers held Puig captive for almost three weeks. His journey ended successfully thankfully, as he’s now a multi-million professional baseball player.

RatPac’s James Packer and John Cheng will executive produce.

The project is now out to writers.

The riveting full story is on Los Angeles Magazine’s website.