Two Olympic stories will be dramatized in upcoming movies, with producers hoping they have another Miracle or Cool Runnings on their hands.
Rashaad Ernesto Green will direct ‘68, a film that was “inspired” — to use a Hollywood term — by the true story of Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos. The feature will examine how the two track stars from San Jose State University became part of the protest at the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games, raising their fists on the podium in a “Black Power salute.”
The movie will be produced by For MGM, Participant & Macro with Carlos’ nephews, Airrion and Shaun McCoy, and Smith’s wife DeLois co-producing.
Billy Ray will write the screenplay. He also wrote the script for Richard Jewell, the Clint Eastwood movie about the security guard who discovered the bomb in Centennial Olympic Park during the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
Green, who received the Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award in 2020 for his second feature directorial, Premature, said that the story of Smith and Carlos is “still incredibly powerful and relevant.”
He added, “I’m honored for the opportunity to bring Tommie and John’s riveting story to life; to portray the weight of the world these two giants had on their shoulders and the self-determination, courage and sacrifice it took for them to stand up for all of us.”
Michael De Luca, MGM Film Group Chairman, and Pam Abdy, MGM Film Group President, said in a statement “the courage and selflessness of these two extraordinary men, who quite literally put their lives on the line to stand up for what was right and true, has stood as a testament to the essential need to speak truth to power.”
They added they were grateful MGM had been entrusted “to bring their story to the world.”
Smith and Carlos appeared in a 2018 documentary called 1968. They were also featured in a 1999 documentary called Fists of Freedom: The Story of the ‘68 Summer Games, as well as in various other projects.
However, this is the first time the story will be dramatized in a major motion picture.
Meanwhile, production on The Boys in the Boat is gliding along. Filming began in late March in Berkshire, United Kingdom. George Clooney and Grant Heslov are directing, but Clooney, a two-time Academy Award winner as an actor and producer, is not among the cast led by Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner. MGM, Spyglass Media Group and Smokehouse Pictures are producing.
The book by Daniel James Brown, subtitled “Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics,” came out in 2013. USA Today said the story of the University of Washington men’s rowing team, which represented the United States in the Olympics, was “a surprisingly suspenseful tale of triumph,” while the Associated Press said it was a “a riveting and inspiring saga… with the drama of a compelling novel. A quintessentially American story.”
Clooney directed and starred in another period piece about sports, Leatherheads. The 2008 film was about the early years of professional football.
Chris Diamantopoulos was just added to the cast to play Royal Brougham, the Seattle sportswriter who covered the story. He is best known as the voice of Mickey Mouse.
A previous film adaptation was announced in 2011 — before the book came out. It was going to be directed by Kenneth Branagh and produced by The Weinstein Company, which filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and turned over the reins to other production companies.
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