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William Hurt has joined the cast of the Jesse Owens biopic Race, which stars Stephan James as the famous track and field athlete.
Focus Features also announced a release date of the drama, slating it for April 8, 2016.
Also starring Jeremy Irons, Jason Sudeikis and Carice van Houten, Race is directed by Stephen Hopkins and is filming in Montreal and on location at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, where Owens won his record-breaking four gold medals in 1936.
Hurt will play Jeremiah Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, who led efforts to boycott the 1936 Olympics.
Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel wrote the script for Race, which is produced by Jean Charles Lévy, Luc Dayan, Kate Garwood, Hopkins, Louis-Philippe Rochon, Dominique Séguin, Karsten Brünig and Thierry Potok. Executive producers are Christophe Charlier, Ben Grass, Scott Kennedy, Bonnie Timmermann, George Acogny, Nicolas Manuel, Jonathan Bronfman and Al Munteanu. Square One, which is distributing the film in Germany, is a co-producer on the film, and Entertainment One (eOne) is distributing Race in Canada. Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international distribution of the film.
Hurt, who won an Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman, will next be seen in The Moon and the Sun. He’s represented by ICM Partners.
The only other film set for release on the April 8, 2016, weekend is Universal’s Clifford the Big Red Dog.
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