Jamie Foxx is set to star in and produce the Olympic boxing movie “Fight for ’84” for Netflix. The Oscar-winner will play a coach hired to reconstitute the U.S. Olympic boxing team after the original team is killed in a tragic plane crash in 1980. In the 1984 Olympics, the U.S. won nine gold medals in boxing, the most in Olympic history. The project was announced during Netflix’s upfront presentation on May 14.
Columbian filmmaker Andrés Baiz (“Santanás”) — who helmed Netflix’s 2024 limited series “Griselda,” as well as episodes of “The Sandman,” “Narcos: Mexico,” and “Marcos” for the streamer — is making his English-language feature debut with the movie. Andrea Berloff (“Straight Outta Compton”), John Gatins (“Flight”) and Andy Weiss (“White Boy Rick”) wrote the screenplay.
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The film is based on the real crash of a LOT Polish Airlines flight in March 1980 that killed 14 boxers and eight staff members of the U.S. Olympic Boxing team, who were en route to Warsaw for an event. In real life, the U.S. boxing team was coached by Pat Nappi in 1976, 1980 and 1984; Foxx will play another member of the coaching staff.
The actor has a longstanding relationship with Netflix, most recently headlining the streamer’s “Back in Action” with Cameron Diaz this year and his stand-up special, “What Had Happened Was…” in 2024. He’s also starred in 2023’s “They Cloned Tyrone,” 2022’s “Day Shift” and 2020 “Project Power.”
Along with Foxx, the film is produced by Eric Newman for Grand Electric, Bryan Unkeless for Night Owl and Michael W. Abbott for A Move Films Production. Weiss is executive producing through A WeBros Entertainment Production; Henry Tillman and Datari Turner will also executive produce.
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