In a film that is set to portray the long rivalry between middle-distance legends Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has been cast the leading role.
Radcliffe, who is ranked this year as Britain’s richest ‘young celebrity’, will play Sebastian Coe in the athletics drama entitled Gold, which is due to shoot in April 2014 by BBC Films.
The film will depict the epic journey of the two middle-distance rivals from their days as junior athletes to the heights of their careers, culminating in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, where, against the favourite predictions, Ovett won the 800m and Coe took the 1500m.
Christine Langan of BBC Films has said ‘Compelling, funny and moving, Gold is a gem of a story and BBC Films is proud to be participating in bringing it to an international audience.’
The Woman in Black director James Watkins will once again work with Radcliffe and is set to team up with Oscar-winning writer Simon Beaufroy, the man behind Slumdog Millionaire. Beaufroy said ‘It is a brilliant story of two very different people… I hadn’t realised how good it was until you dig into their past.’
The news of Radcliffe’s casting has been met with mixed reactions, but regardless of whether the film will be a modern Chariots of Fire or a box office flop, it has created great attention among athletics fans worldwide.
