Sooner or later we were bound to get a biographical sports movie about Olympic runner Jesse Owens. In fact, it’s pretty surprising that it took this long for it to happen. Now we’ve got one though and it comes to us in the form of Race, directed by Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers).
The movie takes us back to the 1930’s when Jesse (Stephan James) was a student at Ohio State University and being coached by former running star Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis). But while Jesse finds college life challenging, especially with his girlfriend and child back home, he’s soon presented with an even bigger challenge: competing at the Olympics in Adolf Hitler’s Germany. Despite the oppressiveness he’s made to feel, he’s still determined to triumph in spite of seemingly infinite adversity.
Recently, the press day for Race took place in Los Angeles and while there, we had the chance to speak with James about this role in the film. Over the course of our discussion, he spoke about his training for the part, what he learnt about track and field, why Jesse’s story is so important and more.
Hear what he had to say in the video above and be sure to catch Race when it runs into theatres this Friday!