100% Jakob Ingebrigtsen, a movie can be made just out of the documentary Team Ingebrigtsen but add in the soap opera aspects of the last couple years and through it all young Jakob persevered and won a gold medal in each world championship or Olympics since 2019.
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If Craig engels can somehow make an Olympic team, that would make a great movie
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Mark Kerr wrote:
Reading about Dwayne Johnson ('the Rock') being tipped for an oscar for his portrayal of an MMA fighter from the early days (Mark Kerr) got me wondering if any famous (or not so famous) runner deserves a Hollywood movie.
Obviously the Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams story has been done in the 80's and had a lot of success. A recent movie about Zatopek was a big blockbuster in the Czech Republic but didn't really register anywhere else (it was in Czech).
There was going to be a movie about the Coe/Ovett rivalry to co-incide with the London Olympics, with Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter to play Coe, but it was never made (I think Ovett didn't like the idea - probably feared he would be portrayed as the 'bad guy').
But I don't think Hollywood itself has ever made a blockbuster running movie.
Note that the Mark Kerr film doesn't skip his ped abuse, so any movie about, say, Kipchoge, would have to include his likely EPO use, or at least acknowledge the problem in Kenya.
Well a few have had them. Pre had TWO!
Billy Mills (Running Brave)
Louis Zamperini (Unbroken)
Jesse Owens
There have been a few documentaries as well.
The answer to me might be Meb...what a great story.
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Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:
Rudolph Harbig. If you don't know his story check it out. His 800m WR is one of the greatest WR's ever given the era, performance and circumstances.
Harbig was a Nazi soldier. Why do you want a movie made about him?
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missBS wrote:
Webb. Random kid from Virginia who grew up when the US was at its absolute lowest in distance running. Normal parents. Happened to be the fastest person in the world (particularly in an era when nepo kids like Rupp and Centro were starting to pop up).
Is running a sport where "nepo" actually works? If you cannot run fast, you are not going anywhere just because of a famous parent. Centro did not get into the Olympics because his dad was a good national class runner.
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Dudewhat? wrote:
I'd say Meb. It has a good story when his dad walked across the African desert, got refugee status in Italy (?), got his family and moved to US. Then this kid grows up in Socal and eventually become a medalist in the Olympics.
They could embellish the details a bit for dramatic effect.
I have had the pleasure of chatting with him a few times...no need to embellish.
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Brianruns10 wrote:
Personally I think you could do a great film about Wes Santee - his difficult upbringing, phenomenal rise, race for the sub 4:00 mile, and ultimately, his tragic, undeserved downfall due to the onerous restrictions of the AAU.
I would extend that and make it based on the book about the three men chasing the 4 minute mile.
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Run4fun.. wrote:
Kelvin Kiptum played by Don Cheadle
Same face.
Don Cheadle is 60 right now and Kiptum died before his 25th birthday. Time to stop upvoting yourself on that brilliant plan.
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dsfsda wrote:
A movie about Prefontaine would be amazing.
If "a" movie would be amazing, how about TWO?!
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I know it is mostly fictional, but I would love "Once a Runner" to be put to film. It is the only work I've watched/read that really "gets it" in terms of the collegiate running experience, good, bad, and ugly. There are some great movies about runners (Unbroken comes to mind) but they were obviously made by and for a non-running audience. "Without Limits", despite its 90s cheesiness, is probably the only film that comes close in this aspect.
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zvcxzcvx wrote:
The trouble with the Zamperini movie was just that it was a really bad movie. His life was incredible.
I thought the first half was pretty good, a decent portrayal of pre-war track and field and the WW2 aerial combat scenes are great.
When it came to the Japanese POW stuff, they were just way too limited by the PG-13 rating. That made the whole second half pretty uninteresting because they couldn't show much. It also ends pretty abruptly and without much satisfaction imo. The book goes a lot more into his life after the war and in college, this stuff was all cut for the movie as well.
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David Mack.
Talent, violence, his membership in the Crips, the Biggie Smalls hit, bank robberies, pacing Steve Ovett to a 1500 WR and more. Fun for the whole family.
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film buff wrote:
Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:
Rudolph Harbig. If you don't know his story check it out. His 800m WR is one of the greatest WR's ever given the era, performance and circumstances.
Harbig was a Nazi soldier. Why do you want a movie made about him?
He would have been shot if he had refused to serve. He didn't serve in the SS, he was an ordinary German soldier who died for his country. There is no evidence at all that Harbig was a card carrying Nazi. He even mysteriously underperformed at the 1936 Olympics.
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Roger Biebert wrote:
The best choice would always be of how much you can get out of their non-running life, story wise. Running isn't compelling enough on its own to be movie worthy. And better yet, who's story could be told that could have relevant messaging/themes today? The obvious choice is Suzy Favor Hamilton. My second non-fiction choice would be there to be a running version of the skateboarding documentary Minding the Gap - essentially a more gritty version of the Disney movie Macfarland, if there are any stories out there that would fit (there must be right?). There is a whole lot of luck for documentaries like Minding the Gap or Hoop Dreams to work out like they did, so maybe just a non-fiction story out there of a cross country team that would give the same vibes/grit/personal stories in similar vein to Minding the Gap.
The next great running movie might best be fiction, but only to the extent that the story happens to be about a runner. Like The Holdovers, but the students staying over the winter break were doing so for running/track purposes. Blue Velvet or Red Rocket, but the male protagonists are really into running. A modern remake of Marathon Man could also work. To go back to my earlier comparison, maybe a fictionally version of a high school cross country team that is inspired by movies like Minding the Gap.
Yeah, I was thinking of Robin Williams for that reason
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Coevett wrote:
film buff wrote:
Harbig was a Nazi soldier. Why do you want a movie made about him?
He would have been shot if he had refused to serve. He didn't serve in the SS, he was an ordinary German soldier who died for his country. There is no evidence at all that Harbig was a card carrying Nazi. He even mysteriously underperformed at the 1936 Olympics.
On 1 May 1937 Harbig joined the Nazi Party, he also held the rank of a Sturmmann of the SA paramilitary forces. He regularly participated in the Party's Struggle Games during the Nuremberg Rallies and voluntarily served the propaganda purposes of Nazi sports official Karl Ritter von Halt. This was coupled with his ultimate rise to the top of German athletics, moving from victory to victory.
The Sturmabteilung; SA; lit. 'Storm Division' or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Roter Frontkämpferbund of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and especially Jews.
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The story on Meb - I'm surprised isn't being made now.
12 year old immigrant escaping war in Eritrea. Comes to the US and both he and his family all build successful lives/careers. (Meb is 1 of 12 kids. Meb and 9 others have college degrees now, 4 have advanced degrees....incredible).
Meb graduates UCLA in 1998, sets the 10000m American record in 2001, and then goes on to win Silver in 2004 Olympic Marathon. One would imagine his future is limitless and beyond belief.
But, Meb then faced a long road of adversity. An undiagnosed hip problem stymied much of his 2008 and into 2009. He had a rough go of it for the 2008 trials in NY (fractured pelvis, I think). He was gradually being written off by the professional scene (Ryan Hall would plead unsuccessfully with BAA to get him into Boston at times when he was on top of the American scene).
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Meb wins NY in 2009. He was only added at the last minute when Tergat (I think??) pulled out a month prior with an injury. But then Meb gets written off by Nike around end of 2011. They figured he was done and Rupp was the next big thing.
Meb wins the 2012 Olympic Trials, and goes on to place 4th at the Olympics. And yet, still struggling to earn invites to major races.
And finally, the 2014 Boston win.
This is a guy who has struggled, faced life and professional setbacks, and still put his best foot forward all the time. He is selfless, friendly, and the most unassuming person.
And with all of Hollywood's hatred for Trump, I am shocked they don't turn this into a motion picture (granted, the studios are also probably terrified that if they green-lit this production Trump would try to find a way to put them out of business).
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They should make a movie about Harold Abrahams.
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Ryan Shay could be another good choice. Only person to ever win four high school state cross country championships (Class D but nonetheless very impressive), valedictorian of his high school, had a fairly successful collegiate and pro career, collapsed and died during mile 5 of the Olympic Trials in 2007.
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The movie should have more to it, then just running. Perhaps a remake of the Jim Thorpe story?
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samcallan wrote:
Brianruns10 wrote:
Personally I think you could do a great film about Wes Santee - his difficult upbringing, phenomenal rise, race for the sub 4:00 mile, and ultimately, his tragic, undeserved downfall due to the onerous restrictions of the AAU.
I would extend that and make it based on the book about the three men chasing the 4 minute mile.
Three men chasing the 4 minute mile . . . that's a great suggestion!
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