Updated: Daniel Radcliffe to play Sebastian Coe in Gold

Screen Daily is exclusively reporting that Daniel is set to play four-time Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe in Gold. BBC Films (which also confirmed the news) and the British Film Institute have developed the project with AL FILMS. BBC Films’ head Christine Langan will Executive Produce.

GOLD will reunite Radcliffe with British director James Watkins (Eden Lake) following their 2012 box office hit The Woman in Black. Its screenplay is by Oscar winning writer Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and Will Davies (How to Train Your Dragon) and the film will be produced by Joanna Anderson & Vicky Licorish (Small Island) and Kevin Loader (Hyde Park on Hudson, Le Week-end).

Christine 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.'

Financing is also provided by Ingenious Senior Film Fund, represented by Gavin Poolman. Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar’s Embankment Films are selling worldwide and will be launching the film at the AFM.

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 film tells the story of the gladiatorial rivalry between world-record breaking athletes Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. Driven hard by their families, two young men from very different backgrounds rewrote the record books and kept the whole nation - and then the world - gripped by their battle. GOLD is based on the acclaimed book The Perfect Distance by Pat Butcher, who also acts as consultant on the project.

Filming will begin in the UK and Russia in April 2014.

Update: 1st February 2014. Because  of the fact that The Cripple of Inishmaan on Broadway will start in April, the production of Gold is pushed back. Production in 2015 and the release in 2016.

Gold. Winning is everything. Second is nowhere.

source: screendaily.com, bbc.co.uk, embankmentfilms.com
Photo: Embankment Films