Jamie Foxx is ready to take a swing at an emotional story from American sports history.
Netflix announced during its upfront presentation Wednesday that the actor will star in director Andrés Baiz’s forthcoming drama feature Fight for ’84. The script is credited to Andrea Berloff, John Gatins and Andy Weiss.
Fight for ’84 takes place in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash that killed the U.S. Olympic boxing team in 1980. Foxx stars as the new coach who is recruited to lead the team and would guide them to victory at the 1984 Olympics, where the squad collected the most boxing medals in the history of the Summer Games.
Producers include Eric Newman for Grand Electric, Bryan Unkeless for Night Owl, and Foxx and Michael W. Abbott for A Move Films Production. Executive producers are Henry Tillman and Datari Turner, along with Weiss for A WeBros Entertainment Production.
Baiz is known for his work on the Netflix series Narcos, Narcos: Mexico, The Sandman and Griselda. His directorial feature credits include Pimpinero: Blood and Oil, which premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The project reunites Foxx with Netflix following the release earlier this year of the streaming giant’s action-comedy movie Back in Action, in which the actor stars opposite Cameron Diaz. His other recent credits include the Netflix films They Cloned Tyrone and Day Break, in addition to Amazon’s The Burial and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
This is not Foxx’s first foray into boxing. He co-stars alongside Will Smith in Michael Mann’s 2001 film Ali as Drew Bundini Brown, a member of Muhammad Ali’s team.
