Nov. 05--Plans are in the works to turn the life of Joe Louis into a biopic, according to a report in Variety.
The boxer, who spent a substantial portion of his career in Chicago, was world heavyweight champion for more than a decade from 1937 to 1949.
The film is being developed by Bill Duke, Gil Adler and Joel Eisenberg, with Duke signed on to direct. (Duke, a longtime TV and film director whose credits include "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit," also has an extensive career as an actor.)
It is not known if Louis' Chicago years in Bronzeville (where he was one of the neighborhood's better-known celebrities) will figure into the film, but they were instrumental; his early professional fights took place in the city, and Chicago is where he won the heavyweight title in 1937, knocking out James J. Braddock. The win made Louis the first black heavyweight champion since Jack Johnson.
Louis was best known for his rivalry with German fighter Max Schmeling, who was heavyweight champion from 1930 to 1932. After being defeated by Schmeling in 1936, Louis (aka the "Brown Bomber") was victorious two years later in a rematch at Yankee Stadium that carried with it a deep undercurrent of political and racial symbolism -- of an African-American trouncing the supposed Aryan superiority of the Nazi Germany.
nmetz@tribpub.com
