As first reported by Deadline, Jeremy Renner (The Avengers) is slated to star in a biopic on boxing champ great Rocky Marciano.
The project, entitled Undefeated: The Rocky Marciano Story, will be produced by Morris S. Levy via his Mega Films, which is currently on the hunt for a director. This will be the first authorized bio on Marciano, who was undefeated in the ring and held the heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He retired at age 32 with a record, still unbeaten, of 49-0. Marciano was considered by many sportswriters as the greatest heavyweight of all time due to his high knockout percentages and ability to withstand punches and still keep going. The film will follow his life from childhood until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1969.
Mega Films owns the rights to the story of Marciano’s life as told by his younger brother Lou Marciano. Samuel Franco and Evan Kilgore, whose script Mayday 109 just landed on the 2015 Black List of unproduced screenplays, will pen the feature.
Renner grabbed Hollywood’s attention for his intense portrayal of a combat soldier assigned to defusing bombs in Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker. Bigelow took home Best Director for the film and Renner was nominated for an Academy Award for the lead role. He was again nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar the following year in Ben Affleck’s The Town. Renner has since established a niche for himself as an action star playing the Marvel Comics character Hawkeye (The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the upcoming Captain America: Civil War), as well as in The Bourne Legacy, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the Mission Impossible franchise. Renner has been announced to reprise his Bourne Legacy Aaron Cross role in an as-yet untitled sequel to be directed by Justin Lin (Star Trek Beyond).
We will keep you posted on the Rocky Marciano project as more information rolls in.
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