Picture Credit : VivaTuMusica.com
Superstar actress-filmmaker Angelina Jolie will be soon producing an ambitious sports film biopic. The Original Sin star is producing a biopic on native American athlete Jim Thorpe. Jolie and Escape Artist Productions’ Todd Black and Steve Tisch will produce “Bright Path: The Jim Thorpe Story”, reports variety.com.
Martin Sensmeier will executive produce and star as the world-renowned athlete. Abraham Taylor is also on board to produce the project, which has an original screenplay by Taylor, Alex Nibley and Sterlin Harjo.
Regarded as one of the greatest athletes in the history of modern sports, Thorpe was also a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. In 1912, he won two Olympic gold medals representing the US while his citizenship went unrecognized during a period of cultural genocide for Native Americans.
He went on to play Major League Baseball, professional football and eventually founded the organisation that became the NFL. “I’m honoured to be working on this project,” Jolie said. “I have had the privilege of spending time with Bill Thorpe, and will be listening to and guided by the Tribes and the Thorpe family in the making of this film.”
Who is Jim Thorpe ?
Full name James Francis Thorpe ( 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for his home country. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and basketball.
According to his obituary in The New York Times, he could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat; the 220 in 21.8 seconds; the 440 in 51.8 seconds; the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35; the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds; and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds. He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in. He could pole vault 11 feet; put the shot 47 ft 9 in; throw the javelin 163 feet; and throw the discus 136 feet.
