AFM: Daniel Radcliffe To Play Sebastian Coe In Sports Drama ‘Gold’

The rivalry of Olympic middle-distance runners Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett in the years leading up to the 1980 Moscow Games will be the focus of Gold, a drama project revving up for next week’s AFM. Embankment Films, which is handling world sales, says Daniel Radcliffe is confirmed to play Coe. The British movie will reunite the actor with his The Woman In Black director James Watkins. Simon Beaufoy and How To Train Your Dragon‘s Will Davies wrote the script that’s based on Pat Butcher’s book The Perfect Distance. Coe and Ovett started racing against each other in 1972 and traded records for years. In Moscow in 1980, each won the other’s specialty. A UK and Russia shoot is gearing up for April. Joanna Anderson, Vicky Licorish and Kevin Loader are producing. The project was developed by BBC Films and the BFI with AL Films. Radcliffe is repped by the UK’s ARG and by UTA.