According to Variety.com, British actor John Boyega will portray Olympic athlete Jesse Owens in the biopic Race, with shooting set to start in May in Berlin and Montreal. Stephen Hopkins (Judgment Night, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers) who will direct from a script by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel, said, “John Boyega is definitely one of the most exciting young actors working today and I am thrilled to have him on board to play the iconic role of Jesse Owens in Race.”
The 21-year-old Boyega stars in Malik Vitthal’s inner-city drama Imperial Dreams, which premiered Jan. 17 at the Sundance Film Festival. He debuted in feature films in 2011′s Attack the Block and appeared in 2012′s Half of a Yellow Sun opposite Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Shooting locations include the actual Berlin Olympic stadium where Owens won the four gold medals. Producers are aiming for a release in the spring of next year. Race is supported by the Jesse Owens Foundation, the Jesse Owens Trust and the Luminary Group, and has been been in development for the past two years. Race is a different project from the Disney biopic about Owens, which has Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen) attached to direct.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Discover more from Good Black News
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.