Sylvester Stallone has made a few films about the world of boxing, and was originally inspired to create Rocky by real-life pugilist Chuck Wepner. Now, as he launches his own production company called Balboa Productions, he's targeted another true-life tale as a first project: the story of Jack Johnson.
Johnson's story recently came back into the public eye when Stallone lobbied Donald Trump to give the man who became the first African American heavyweight champion a rare Presidential Pardon. Back in 1909, Jackson defied racist laws that presented black men having relationships with white women, and ended up marrying one. Under the Mann Act, he was sentenced to a year in prison and fled the country with his wife until 1920 when he returned to serve his term. Johnson died in 1946.
The campaign to win a pardon for him got traction three years ago via US Senators John McCain and Harry Reid, but Stallone's latest push moved things forward.
Stallone has now set a film about Johnson up at MGM, where he's once again playing Rocky in Creed 2. There are no details yet of what he'll do for the Johnson biopic, but we'd bet good money on him at least writing and looking to direct.
Creed 2, meanwhile, is out here on 30 November.
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