Daniel Radcliffe will reportedly star in Olympic drama 'Gold'
From the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda depicted in聽聽to the tension between the Jamaicans and the smug Swiss team in聽Cool Runnings, some of the greatest sports movies ever made feature great players squaring off against one another.
Easily the greatest sports rivalry ever committed to film was the fiery antagonism between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy as they went head-to-head as Seekers to compete for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, engaging in furious enmity both on and off the pitch. Obviously some of the dramatic tension was assuaged by the fact that Malfoy is a terrible Seeker who wouldn鈥檛 have made it onto the Slytherin team if his father hadn鈥檛 bought him a place鈥� not that we鈥檙e taking sides or anything.
聽star Daniel Radcliffe has since been enjoying a fairly healthy career with plenty of diverse roles to help him shed his former child star status, and according to聽聽he is now set to join the world of muggle athletics. Radcliffe will reunite with聽聽director James Watkins for聽Gold: a sports drama about Olympic athlete Sebastian Coe and his rivalry with fellow athlete Steve Ovett.
The script by Will Davies () is based on Pat Butcher鈥檚 book 鈥淭he Perfect Distance,鈥� which covers the years in the 1970s and 1980s during which the two runners were competing directly with one another. At the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Coe and Ovett both won gold medals in each other鈥檚 specialities, and both athletes have broken running records over the course of their careers.
奥丑别苍听Rush聽came out we listed some聽聽that could make for great sports dramas, and with so many sporting enthusiasts out there it鈥檚 almost certain that聽Gold聽will find an audience, if only a niche one.聽
The ultimate titan of running movies is still聽Chariots of Fire, and probably will continue to be so for a while, but聽Gold聽sounds like an interesting project with some decent talent involved. Of course, the next big question is who will play Steve Ovett, as chemistry between the leads is going to be a major factor for this movie. Any suggestions?
H. Shaw-Williams blogs at .
