EXCLUSIVE: Ernie Hudson (Grace and Frankie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) is the final addition to the cast of Champions, the recently-wrapped Special Olympics film that Bobby Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary) directed for Focus Features and Gold Circle Entertainment.He’ll star alongside the previously announced Woody Harrelson, Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin and Matt Cook.
Actors with intellectual disabilities rounding out the cast to ensure authenticity in the storytelling include Madison Tevlin, Joshua Felder, Kevin Iannucci, Ashton Gunning, Matthew Von Der Ahe, Tom Sinclair, James Day Keith, Alex Hintz, Casey Metcalfe, Bradley Edens and Champ Pederson.Champions is based on the Goya Award winning Spanish film Campeones, which Universal Pictures International released in 2018.
It centers on a stubborn and hotheaded minor league basketball coach who is forced to coach a Special Olympics team when he is sentenced to community service.Mark Rizzo wrote the script.
Paul Brooks, Scott Niemeyer and Jeremy Plager produced, with Harrelson, Brad Kessell, Alexander Jooss, Luis Manso, Alvaro Longoria and Javier Fesser exec producing, and Joe Toto and Carlen Johnson overseeing the project for Focus Features.
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