Michael Starr

Michael Starr

TV

HBO to make movie based on Big Blue great

HBO has optioned “The Glory Game” and plans to make a movie based on Big Blue great Frank Gifford’s book recounting the iconic Giants-Colts 1958 NFL Championship game, which went into overtime and put the NFL on the map.

The movie is being produced by Gene Kirkwood (“Rocky,” “The Pope of Greenwich Village”), Ross Elliott and Frank’s 24-year-old son, Cody Gifford. Frank, an NFL Hall of Famer, played in the ’58 game and later formed the classic “Monday Night Football” triumverate along with Howard Cosell and “Dandy Don” Meredith. He will be an executive producer on the movie.

“We’re not at the casting point right now but we’ve met with [writer John Richards] and we’re developing the story with him,” says Cody. “We’re kind of taking a hands-off approach but we’re giving him everything he needs. We’re focused right now on getting the best possible story out of the book.”

“The Glory Game,” published in 2009, tells the story of the Dec. 28, 1958, battle at Yankee Stadium, which aired nationally on NBC and is often called “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” It was the first-ever NFL playoff game to go into sudden-death overtime — the Colts won 23-17 on Alan Ameche’s one-yard touchdown run — and featured 17 future NFL Hall of Famers including Gifford, Johnny Unitas, Sam Huff, Don Maynard, Gino Marchetti, Emlen Tunnell and Rosey Brown.

“That overtime meant a lot and moved us into a time zone where people were turning on their TVs in California and seeing NFL football,” says Frank Gifford. “Football, at that time, was a game that nobody talked about or watched on TV … and that game had a lot to do with bringing fans to the game. People turned on their TVs expecting to see the news, which was pre-empted by the game, and I think that had a lot to do with popularizing the NFL.”

In and around town …

Tuesday marks the premiere of “Matador,” El Rey Network’s original series about a popular pro soccer player, Tony “Matador” Bravo (Gabriel Luna), who’s also a CIA mole. “Matador,” airing at 9 p.m., will feature Queens native Louis Ozawa Changchien in the recurring role of an errand boy for Samuel Galan (Alfred Molina), who owns Bravo’s LA team. Changchien, raised in Manhattan, has appeared in “The Bourne Legacy” and “Predators” and has a history with El Rey Network co-founder (and “Matador” EP) Robert Rodriguez (who produced “Predators”).

More New York: “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” will hold auditions for its new season (hosted by Terry Crews) starting this Wednesday and running through mid-August at the ABC studios (57 W. 66th). Millionairetv.dadt.com has details.

And “Modern Family” star Julie Bowen will make a special appearance at Thursday’s “Mamarazzi” event — hosted by SiriusXM’s Melissa Musen Gerstein and Denise Albert — for “Planes: Fire and Rescue” at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (noon).