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Disney Developing Film on Iconic 1936 Olympic Runner Jesse Owens

by Ethan Anderton
December 17, 2013
Source: THR

After Legendary brought the story of Jackie Robinson to theaters in 42 this year, Disney will bring the story of another race barrier-breaking athlete to the big screen. THR has word that the House of Mouse is developing a big screen take on the story of Jesse Owens, the iconic African-American track-and-field star who competed in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany and won four gold medals. Owens was once regarded as the fastest man in the world, but his humble beginnings saw him growing up in 1920s Cleveland, moving there during the Great Migration, when 1.5 million African Americans left the segregated South. Read on!

Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua is attached to direct the film which will be written by The King's Speech scribe David Seidler, adapted the book Triumph by ESPN anchor Jeremy Schaap. While we would like it if this film strayed from the usual cheesy, sports drama tropes, the film is from Disney, so we won't hold our breath. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing since films like Remember the Titans and Miracle tackled adult sports stories, and had a lot of heart and quality storytelling. Fuqua doesn't always move fast to get projects off the ground, so we'll see what happens.

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