Antoine Fuqua to direct Jesse Owens biopic for DisneyPosted by Wilson Morales
December 16, 2013
Source: Variety
Antoine Fuqua is attach to direct a biopic of the American track and field hero Jesse Owens, reports Variety.
The film will be based on the book “Triumph,” written ESPN host Jeremy Schaap, and produced by BermanBraun’s Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun and Netter Films’ Gil Netter. David Seidler, who won a screenwriting Oscar for “The King’s Speech,” in on board to write the screenplay.
Set against the backdrop of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, “Triumph” tells the story of how the son of an Alabama sharecropper shattered Adolf Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy by winning a record four gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, the long jump and the 400-meter relay.
Hitler had insisted Jews and Blacks not be allowed to participate in the games, but relented when threatened with a boycott. He shook hands only with the German victors on the first day of competition and then skipped all further medal presentations.
In 1984, Dorian Harewood played Owens on the small screen in a telefilm called ‘The Jesse Owens Story.‘
