Los Angeles Times

His grandma's story charmed Tom Brady. Now it's a Hollywood movie

Jane Fonda, left, and Harry Hamlin in "80 for Brady."

LOS ANGELES — Four years ago, Elizabeth Pensavalle knew what she wanted for her 90th birthday party — to watch quarterback Tom Brady play football. Sporting a long-sleeve shirt that said, "Over 80 for Brady," with the veteran NFL quarterback's face on it, the grandmother summoned her guests — "Everyone to the den!"

"It was an order," recalled her grandson Max Gross, who at the time was a 29-year-old coordinator at talent agency WME.

His job, which involved sifting through scripts, answering phone calls and arranging meetings, was low-ranking and hardly glamorous. But in his grandma's story, he saw the makings of a Hollywood movie — and big-screen dreams. On the plane ride home, Gross envisioned a tale of elderly female Brady fans who

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