Gbenga Akinnagbe To Play George Lee Martin In Boxing Biopic ‘Heart Baby!’Posted by Wilson Morales
December 28, 2015
Source: Deadline
Deadline is reporting that Gbenga Akinnagbe will portray George Lee Martin the boxing Biopic ‘Heart Baby!’
The film tells the true story of a convict named George Lee Martin who became infamous in the Tennessee prison system as an unbeatable boxer. When he is offered an opportunity at freedom in exchange for fighting for Team USA in the 1984 Olympic Games, he shocks everyone by saying no.
George also features include Jackson Rathbone (Twilight: Breaking Dawn), Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side), Keir O’Donnell (American Sniper), Justice Leak (Insurgent), Abe Benrubi (Bosch), Michael Badalucco (Bones) and Ann Cusack (Nightcrawler).
The site also states that principal photography will begin in New Orleans next month and is targeting a Sundance 2017 premiere.
Known for his TV roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series The Wire, followed by good performances on 24: Live Another Day and most recently, the last season of The Following, Akinnagbe has been training for the past two months with Darrell Foster, who worked with Will Smith when he played Muhammad Ali in ‘Ali.’
The film is being written and directed by Angela Shelton, whose screenplay for 1999’s Tumbleweeds garnered a Best Actress nomination for Janet McTeer . Shelton, Shawn Caulin-Young and Kim Barnard are producing the film.
“This role — and the film — is undoubtedly, a game changer for Akinnagbe,” said Shelton. “The journey of getting this story ready to shoot certainly has been a priceless experience for me.” Deadline states that Shelton has been friends with former convict for many years and followed him after he was imprisoned in the early 1980s for multiple armed robberies. Martin was given a compassionate release in the 1990s.
