Per an exclusive from Deadline, actor-director George Clooney and co-director Grant Heslov have tapped British actor Callum Turner to star in the upcoming adaptation of the New York Times bestseller The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. (That's a little more of a mouthful than Clooney's current awards season hopeful, The Tender Bar.)
If the title didn't already tip you off, The Boys in the Boat is a non-fiction novel about the University of Washington's boat crew that represented the United States to a gold medal win at the 1936 Olympic Games, hosted by Hitler's Germany. The crew narrowly beat out Italy and the nefarious hosts in a triumphant underdog story, which no doubt bodes rich cinematic potential.
Turner is best known for his breakout role in Jeremy Saulnier's thriller Green Room. Harry Potter fans will recognize him also as the brother of Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander. He was recently cast in Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's Masters of the Air, which is set to be helmed by No Time to Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga. The series will be a continuation of Spielberg's Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Notably, the actor was nominated for a BAFTA last year for his lead performance in BBC's The Capture.
Clooney is hot on the awards trail with The Tender Bar, his wistful coming-of-age film adapted from Pulitzer-winner J. R. Moehringer's memoir of the same name, which premiered to lukewarm reviews at the London Film Festival last month. The film stars Tye Sheridan as Moehringer, but the lion's share of praise has been bestowed upon Ben Affleck's performance as the quippy Uncle Charlie. It is slated for a limited theatrical release on December 17, prior to streaming on Prime Video from January 7 next year. There is no release date yet for The Boys in the Boat.