George Foreman Biopic Rounds Out Its Cast With John Magaro, Jasmine Matthews & More
Hollywood sure loves biopics. Every year brings its fair share of true story-based movies about revolutionary musicians, beloved athletes, iconic film actors, and more, along with the occasional memoir about an individual who left their mark on history in not-so-great ways (like "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Vice"). Biopic cliches have become just as infamous as the actual movies, with actors often donning prosthetics — some of which, most notably fat suits, have come under increased scrutiny of late, and for valid reasons — and shaky accents in the name of doing justice by their real-life people they're portraying. But enough about Jared Leto in "House of Gucci" (zing!), let's discuss Sony Pictures' upcoming George Foreman biopic.
According to Deadline, Jasmine Mathews ("The Tomorrow War"), Sonja Sohn ("Star Trek: Discovery"), John Magaro ("The Many Saints of Newark"), and Shein Mompremier ("Black Lightning") have joined the growing cast of Sony's as-yet-untitled Foreman biopic, although their respective roles have yet to be disclosed. George Tillman Jr. ("The Hate U Give") is directing the movie from a script that he co-wrote with Frank Baldwin ("Cold Pursuit"), based on an earlier draft by Dan Gordon (who also penned the 1999 boxing memoir/legal thriller "The Hurricane").
Will the film do justice by Foreman?
Here's a quasi-official synopsis for the Foreman biopic:
The film will follow the remarkable life and times of Foreman, from Olympic Gold medalist to World Heavyweight champion, the Rumble in the Jungle fight with Muhammad Ali in Zaire, to finding his faith, retiring, and becoming a preacher. When financial hardship hits his family and church, he steps back in the ring and regains the championship at age 45, becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history.
Khris Davis ("Atlanta," "Judas and the Black Messiah") is playing the grown-up George Foreman in the film, with Forest Whitaker (pictured above in "Godfather of Harlem") co-starring as his trainer Doc Broadus, a role that Michael K. Williams was set to play prior to the actor's tragic passing in 2021. Among those rounding out the movie's cast are Sullivan Jones ("Harlem," "The Gilded Age"), Delon Smith ("Outer Banks"), and Kei Rawlins AKA Kei ("Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made") as a younger George Foreman.
Far from a stranger to the world of biopics, Tillman Jr. previously helmed 2009's "Notorious," a memoir about the late rapper Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. As far as reviews go, "Notorious" landed somewhere in the middle on the quality scale for biopics, with its critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes describing the film as "generic rise-and-fall fare that still functions as a primer for those less familiar with the work and life of the hip hop icon." More recently, though, Tillman Jr. was praised far and wide for his efforts behind-the-camera on the critically-acclaimed YA adaptation "The Hate U Give." With a little luck, then, he'll have more success at turning Foreman's dramatic life story into an equally compelling movie.
Sony's George Foreman biopic will open in U.S. theaters on April 7, 2023.