Tiffany Haddish just landed another big role. It was announced on Thursday that the Girls Trip star will portray Olympic icon Florence Griffith Joyner in a new movie based on her life. The film will be produced by game 1 and Haddish will also be a producer. Additionally, Joyner’s widower and former coach Al Joyner will serve as a producer and creative consultant on the biopic.
“I am looking forward to telling Flo-Jo’s story the way it should be told,” Haddish said in a statement per Deadline. “My goal with this film is making sure that younger generations know my ‘she-ro’ Flo-Jo, the fastest woman in the world to this day, existed.” Haddish is already working on her routines and training methods while Joyner is already started training Haddish for the role.
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“I am so elated to team up with game1 and Tiffany Haddish on this project,” Joyner said. “Working with Tiffany has been a great pleasure – she is incredibly dedicated, focused, and committed to portraying the spirit of Florence accurately, whose legacy of making a difference in the world will live on for generations to come. I hope that this film touches all who see it and inspires people to BE the change the world so desperately needs right now!”
Along with the film, Haddish and game 1 are working on a documentary series and a podcast for the feature. “This is storytelling at its best – a global superstar portraying and honoring another global superstar,” game 1 co-CEO Greg Economou said. “We are excited to attach relevant brands to participate in these projects and find the most powerful distribution partners for this project – for them to be associated with Tiffany and Flo-Jo is a golden opportunity.”
Florence Griffith Joyner became a popular track star in the 1980s after winning a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics and three gold and one silver at the 1988 Olympics. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set the world record for the 100-meter sprint She qualified for the 100 meters in the 1980 Olympics but didn’t take part in those games due to the U.S. Boycott. Joyner retired abruptly in 1980 and worked on various projects. She died in 1998 in her sleep due to an epileptic seizure at the age of 38. She was the sister-in-law to another Olympic legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
