Irish director Lenny Abrahamson and Dublin-based production company Element Pictures are set to team up once again to make a film about US boxer Emile Griffith.
Abrahamson and Element’s current film ‘Room’ – starring Brie Larson and William H. Macy - is currently being shown in cinemas in the US and is seen by many as a frontrunner for the 2016 Academy Awards after winning a slew of festival prizes.
Lenny and Element have partnered with Film4 to adapt the Donald McRae book ‘A Man’s World: The Double Life Of Emile Griffith’. While he has other projects in the pipeline – including an adaptation of the Laird Hunt novel ‘Neverhome’ – Abrahamson has indicated that he intends to direct the Emile Griffith biopic as soon as possible.
Emile Griffith was a professional boxer who became a world champion in two weight classes. His best known contest was a 1962 title match with Benny Paret. At the weigh in, Paret infuriated Griffith by touching his buttocks and making homophobic remarks. Griffith won the bout by knockout; Paret never recovered consciousness and died in the hospital 10 days later. Griffith later received a huge public backlash including hate-mail and boxing was not shown on free-to-air television again until the 1970’s.
Speaking to Deadline about the project, director Lenny Abrahamson said: “It is so rich that it’s hard to know where to start. As a character study, Griffith is incredibly compelling. There was a gentleness and innocence about him, and he never seemed conflicted about his sexuality; indeed he found joy in it. He inhabited two worlds — the underground gay scene in New York in the ’60s and the macho world of boxing. The societal stigma at that time was dreadful and created a crushing pressure on him.”
Griffith’s story was previously the subject of Ring Of Fire, an acclaimed documentary directed by Dan Klores.
Camilla Young brokered the deal for Curtis Brown with Element’s Mark Byrne. Andrew Lowe will produce for Element with Rosanne Flynn and Emma Norton.
