John Boyega Will "Race" Like Jesse Owens For Biopic

John Boyega ("Attack the Block") has won the lead role in the biopic about American track and field legend Jesse Owens called "Race" says Variety.

The film will be based on ESPN host Jeremy Schaap's book "Triumph," with David Seidler ("The King's Speech") writing the adapted script. Stephen Hopkins ("The Life and Death of Peter Sellers") is due to direct. At one point Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "Olympus Has Fallen") was attached to direct

Set against the backdrop of Berlin's 1936 Summer Olympics, it chronicles how the son of an Alabama sharecropper won a record four gold medals.Adolf Hitler had insisted Jews and Blacks not be allowed to participate, but relented when threatened with a boycott.

Gil Netter, Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun will produce the film

Production begins this Summer for a Spring 2015 release.