Seabiscuit is a 2003 American sports film co-produced, written and directed by Gary Ross and based on the best-selling 1999 non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. The film is loosely based on the life and racing career of Seabiscuit, an undersized and overlooked Thoroughbred race horse, whose unexpected successes made him a hugely popular media sensation in the United States during the Great Depression. At the 76th Academy Awards, Seabiscuit got seven nominations, including Best Picture. The film was Ross' second film on-screen collaboration with Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks, who both previously worked in Spider-Man, and with Maguire and William H. Macy, who also both previously worked in Pleasantville.