INDIEWIRE: Jesse Owens Biopic ‘Race’ gets a release date

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08 Oct 2014

‘Race’ is off to a good start, with William Hurt, Jeremy Irons, Jason Sudeikis and Carice van Houten joining the cast, Germany’s Square On and Canada’s Entertainment One (eOne) jumping on-board to co-produce, and Focus Features attached to release Stateside, announcing today a release date of the drama for April 8, 2016.

“Race” will be directed by Stephen Hopkins (“The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”), from a script penned by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel.

The project 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.

It’s a project that has the backing of the Jesse Owens Foundation and the Jesse Owens Trust.

By Tambay A. Obenson on Shadow and Act for Indiewire