Thanks to the family archives, the rivalry between the sports brands Adidas and Puma, founded by two brothers in a small Bavarian city, is adapted as a television series, the producers announced on Sunday.
The series brings one of the most fascinating family conflicts in economic history to the screen: Adolf “Adi” Dassler, founder of Adidas, and Rudolf “Rudi”, who founded the competitor Puma a few years later. The two brothers initially led the family company Adidas together before they disputed during the Second World War. Their hostility split the small town of Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg after the conflict.
The Dasler family approved the project by Hollywood producer No Fat ego. The screenwriter Mark Williams, author of the success series “Ozark” on Netflix, was selected to write the story based on videos and memories of the family.
“Everyone knows the brands, but we don’t really know the story behind it,” said the screenwriter of the AFP on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival.
The behavior of the two brothers during the war is discussed, a sensitive topic for the two corporations, which are now rated with billions of US dollars.
Adi and Rudi Dassler became members of the NSDAP in the 1930s, like most economic sizes. Rudi fought and was arrested by the Allied armed forces when he returned to a defeated Germany. “Adi stayed at home and tried to keep the company alive,” says Williams. The family’s factory had been confiscated as part of the war effort in order to be converted into a ammunition factory.
The series promises to become a “drama in the style of ‘succession’”, a US series about a family at the top of a media group in the United States, explained Williams.
The boss of No Fat Ego, Niels Juul, who produced the last films by Martin Scorsese, said he was attracted to the story after discovering the partnership between Adidas and the Black American athlete Jesse Owens.
Jesse Owens, four-time gold medalist at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, wore innovative adidas spike shoes-a slap in the face for Adolf Hitler who wanted to use the games for the demonstration of white supremacy.
This article was used with digital tools translated.
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