*Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is in talks to star in the true story of a high school basketball coach in Louisiana who led his team to the state championship a year after Hurricane Katrina tore apart the school and displaced most of its students, reports Variety.

      "Patriots," from The Weinstein Co. [TWC], tells the story of Coach Al Collins of John Ehret High in Marrero, La. His team consisted of 10 players who attended five different schools before the disaster.

      Robert Eisele, the screenwriter for TWC and Whitaker's current film "The Great Debaters," also penned the screenplay for "Patriots." Filmmaker Tim Story, fresh from helming "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," is in talks to direct the project

       "I've gotten caught up with the 'Fantastic Four' films but wanted to find a smaller film with heart, that brought me back to 'Barbershop,' and this has come together with one of the best actors out there," Story told Variety. "What Coach Collins did to give back the lives of his players is so inspiring."

       The fact-based drama is the first film to establish a start date as a direct result of an interim agreement made between the WGA and an independent studio.

       TWC/Dimension's Harvey and Bob Weinstein made the WGA deal late last week, and with both Story and Whitaker available, the film will complete shooting before the expiration of the SAG contract in June, reports Variety. TWC aims to release "Patriots" around Thanksgiving.