Just do it!
[dropcap size=small]I[/dropcap]t was confirmed earlier this week that Shia LaBeouf has signed on to portray tennis star John McEnroe in an upcoming biopic about him and his rivalry between Swedish tennis star Bjorn Borg. The film will be titled Borg/McEnroe and will “trace the long-running battle for supremacy in the tennis world in the 70s and 80s.” The real power players faced off 14 times in head to head matches between 1976 and 1981, as well as in the Wimbledon Men’s Single Finals game, where McEnroe was booed by the crowd. Borg went on to win five times in a row between 1976 and 1980, while McEnroe won the 81, 83, and 84 Men’s Singles Finals.
LaBeouf does seem like an odd choice of casting for this seemingly small movie, considering he hasn’t been in any major film in quite some time, but it’s certainly not the strangest thing he’s done in recent years. Shia had this to say about his role at a press conference on Sunday:
“Jake is me. So is McEnroe. That’s it, man,” he told reporters. “I understand these people, I empathize with them. I get it. You turn things up and turn things down. It’s me.”
He also stated that his backhand was “getting there.”
Swedish newcomer Sverrir Gudnason is set to portray opposite LaBeouf as Bjorn Borg, and Janus Metz Pedersen will be directing. The movie will begin shooting the fall in Sweden, London, Monaco, and New York, with a 2017 release date, according to The Warp.
What do you think about the casting of Shia LeBeouf? Tell us in the comments below!
