Hollywood’s bad boy Shia Labeouf (Transformers) has signed on to portray tennis bad boy John McEnroe in the biopic Borg vs. McEnroe. The project is being shopped around this week at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film will depict the publicized rivalry between tennis stars Bjorn Borg and McEnroe, particularly focusing on their match during the 1980 Wimbledon final, thought to many as one of the greatest matches ever played in the sport. The pair faced off against one another 14 times between 1978 and 1981, each winning 7 times. Swedish player Borg was known for his cool and calculated demeanor while McEnroe famously threw angry fits on the court.
Joining Labeouf will be Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and Stellan Skarsgard (Thor) as Borg’s trainer. Danish director Janus Metz Pederson (Cannes documentary award winner Armadillo) is helming the project.
Labeouf has been in the headlines lately not for any of his new projects, but for his past movies – he filmed a live feed of himself watching every single one of his own films back to back. Soon he will have two more films to add to his personal movie marathon, as he will be starring in Man Down with Kate Mara (Fantastic Four) and Jai Courtney (Terminator: Genysis) as well as Andrea Arnold’s American Honey which just premiered at Cannes to rave reviews.
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