Justin Fashanu Biopic Set At ITV From Kwame Kwei-Armah – Deadline

The lifetime of Justin Fashanu, the primary footballer to come back out as homosexual, and his brother John Fashanu, is to be become an ITV drama from BAFTA-nominated author Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Justin Fashanu was a particularly gifted footballer who grew to become the primary black British footballer to be bought for £1M ($1.2M) on the age of simply 20, changing into one of the vital celebrated folks in British sport. In 1990, he got here out as homosexual and by 1998, along with his soccer profession in tatters and ostracized by his household, he dedicated suicide.

The drama will weave collectively the lives of Justin Fashanu and his brother John Fashanu, who additionally performed soccer and was estranged from his brother on the time of his loss of life.

ITV mentioned the drama is being put along with the assist of Fashanu’s brother and different contributors embrace LGBTQ+ campaigner Peter Tatchell. Dominic Treadwell Collins’ ITV Studios label Pleased Prince is producing, Kwei-Armah (Elmina’s Kitchen) is writing and ITV Studios is distributing.

Kwei-Armah mentioned: “I grew up watching the Fashanu brothers. I used to be fascinated by them. Impressed by them. As an grownup, my coronary heart breaks for them. ‘The previous is a overseas land’, the saying goes, ‘they do issues in another way there’. In Fash, I wished to dive into that previous, notably one which has so many resonances with as we speak.”

ITV Drama head Polly Hill mentioned the scribe’s “scripts are good and and inform a narrative that’s heart-breaking and sadly nonetheless related as we speak.”

ITV can be quickly to premier biopics about Crossroads star Noele Gordon, starring Helena Bonham Carter, and Cary Grant, starring Jason Isaacs.