30/10/2013 - Actor to continue his post Harry Potter reinvention with Sebastian Coe biopic, directed by James Watkins

Daniel Radcliffe will play British athletic great Sebastian Coe in the biopic Gold. James Watkins, who worked with the actor in The Woman In Black [+see also:
trailer
film profile], will direct from a script co-written by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danny Boyle
film profile]) and Will Davies (How to Train Your Dragon) based on the book The Perfect Distance by Pat Butcher. The film will tell the story of Coe’s rivalry with fellow athlete Steve Ovett in the years leading up to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. In later years, Coe was instrumental in London winning the 2012 Olympics bid.

Joanna Anderson (Brideshead Revisited [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Vicky Licorish (Small Island) and Kevin Loader (Le Week-End [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) will produce. BBC Films and the British Film Institute have developed the project with AL Films. BBC Films’ head Christine Langan will Executive Produce. Additional financing is from the Ingenious Senior Film Fund. Embankment Films are selling worldwide and will be launching the film at the American Film Market.

Langan 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.”

Embankment’s Tim Haslam said, “Gold is a movie about an insatiable need to win, fuelled by intense ambition, only possible through the support of loving family.”

The shoot will commence in the UK and Russia in April 2014.