Attack the Block’s John Boyega tapped to star in Jesse Owens BiopicPosted by Wilson Morales
January 25, 2014
Source: Variety
John Boyega, who starred in Joe Cornish’s Attack The Block, will portray Olympic athlete Jesse Owens in the biopic “Race,” states Variety.
The film will be directed by Stephen Hopkins (“The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”) from a script by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel.
“Race” will focus on how Owens, the son of an Alabama sharecropper, shattered Adolf Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by winning a record four gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, the long jump and the 400-meter relay. Owens’ victories are considered among the greatest atlhetic feats of all time.
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.
Production on the film will start in May in Berlin and Montreal, with locations to include the actual Berlin Olympic stadium where Owens won the four gold medals.
Boyega will soon be seen in Malik Vitthal’s inner-city drama “Imperial Dreams,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. He will also appear in “Half of a Yellow Sun” opposite Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Variety also states that “Race” is supported by the Jesse Owens Foundation, the Jesse Owens Trust and the Luminary Group. It has been been in development for the past two years.
