Paddy Considine and Mena Massoud have joined sports drama Giant, Deadline has reported. The feature will be written and directed by Rowan Athale and is backed by Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood of Balboa Productions as executive producers. Giant is based on the real-life story of British-Yemeni boxer Prince Naseem “Naz” Hamed. The movie will chronicle his rags-to-riches ascent to a world championship under the tutelage of his Irish-born boxing trainer Brendan Ingle. Massoud will play Hamed with Considine playing his coach.

The fill will follow Hamed from his humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, who himself was a steel industry worker-turned-boxing trainer and will chronicle their unlikely partnership. In the 80s and 90s when Islamophobia and racism were rampant in Britain, Naz’s unorthodox style, cocky persona, and sheer dominance in the ring propelled them to the top of boxing’s elite and unprecedented levels of global superstardom. Speaking of the project, the director said, in an official statement

“I have wanted to bring this movie to screen for many years. The story of fabled boxing trainer Brendan Ingle and his tempestuous relationship with protege “Prince” Naseem is both legendary and truly cinematic. It’s exciting, necessary, hilarious, and heartbreaking, and to be making this movie with the incomparable Paddy Considine and Mena Massoud, and with the support of the one and only Sylvester Stallone and his Balboa Productions team, is a dream come true.”

Last year, Considine gave a brilliant performance as King Viserys in HBO's flagship IP, House of the Dragon which gathered a lot of praise from fans and critics alike. His other credits include Peaky Blinders, The Girl with All the Gifts, The World's End, and more. He has also won two British Academy Film Awards, a British Independent Film Award, and a Silver Lion for Best Short Film at the 2007 Venice Film Festival during his career.

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Image via Hulu

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Egyptian-Canadian actor Massoud is well known to star in Disney’s Aladdin directed by Guy Ritchie. His other credits include features like, Canadian drama series Open Heart (2015), the Amazon Prime series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, and Hulu series Reprisal. He was last seen as Prince Thomas in the Netflix original film The Royal Treatment. The team behind Giant looks excellent as Stallone himself created one of the best sports features, Rocky.

No release date has been announced for the feature, watch out for this space for future developments. In the meantime, check out the trailer for upcoming boxing drama Creed III.