Celebrating Jesse Owens in 'Race'

Jesse Owens, who got the name Jesse after a teacher misheard J.C, the name that Owens had actually pronounced in his southern drawl, had a dream and set out on a quest to become the world’s greatest athlete in track and field, an endeavor that catapulted him into fame. Before giving a thrilling performance in the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin and single-handedly decimating Hitler’s vision of presenting to the world the Aryan Supremacy, in 1935 gave the world what has become known as the “Greatest 45 minutes ever in sport” by setting three world records as well as tying another world record in 45 minutes. The great performance was not the only thing that lived in people’s minds as it was reported that Hitler snubbed Owens after his victory a fact that Owens rebuffs stating that it was not Hitler who snubbed him but rather it was Roosevelt who was president at the time who did. Hollywood seeks to celebrate the life of this trailblazer with the film Race, set to be released on February 19, 2016. The film has the support of the Owens family who state that they had final script approval and had to reject some scenes to make sure that it was 100% authentic and did not rewrite history. Marlene Owens Rankin, daughter to Owens stated that the script and facts were well done and approved of the decision to cast James for the role. The movie which was shot in Canada, the US, France and Germany, stars Stephan James a Canadian actor whom CBC named among their '6 black Canadian culture-makers'. The rising star cut his acting teeth on 'Degrassi: The Next Generation', a show on which Drake also acted in. James who had his first big break in 2012 on the film 'Home Again' has played John Lewis, a civil rights activist in 'Selma' and guest starred in 'The Book of Negroes' replaced John Boyega for the part of Owens after Boyega dropped the project opting to star in latest addition to the Star Wars series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. His co-stars include Jason Sudeikis who has appeared in 30 Rock, Epic, We’re the Millers and Horrible Bosses 1 and 2 who plays Larry Snyder, Jeremy Irons, famous for roles in Kafka, The Lion King, Loilita and Eragon plays the role of Avery Brundage, Carice van Houten from Game of Thrones plays Leni Riefenstahl, the German director who shot to fame after directing Olympia and Triumph des Willens which are recognized as two of the most technically innovative and effective propaganda films that have ever been made and a notch for the Nazi propagandist. A one-hour documentary by NBC Sports which will air on Sunday February 14 will serve to create more buzz about the film. The documentary titled “More Than Gold: Jesse Owens and the 1963 Berlin Olympics” looks at the historic performance of the athlete in the 1936 Olympics with interviews from three of his teammates as well as Owens’ daughters and footage from the Berlin Games and restored elements from Leni Riefenstahl’s film “Olympia” that was based on the 1936 Olympics. Check out the official trailer of the movie below.