After years of speculation and anticipation, a release date for the Jackie Robinson biopic has finally been announced.

According to Deadline, the Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures project, titled 42, will be released April 12, 2013. The date is three days shy of the 66th anniversary of Robinson becoming the first Black player to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Harrison Ford will star as Branch Rickey, the Dodgers general manager, and Chadwick Boseman will play the role of Robinson. The cast will also include Rachel Isum, Christopher Meloni and T.R. Knight.

Brian Helgeland, who wrote the script, will direct. And production is scheduled to begin next month in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Chattanooga’s Engel Stadium is set to stand in for Ebbets Field, the Dodgers’ former home in Brooklyn, New York.

Spike Lee is sure to be more than upset at this development since, for years, he has been trying to bring the Baseball Hall of Famer’s story to the big screen.

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(Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)