* Focus Features has picked up the rights to the upcoming Jesse Owens biopic, Race, and as part of the announcement they revealed Jason Sudeikis and Jeremy Irons have joined the cast. Stephan James will play Owens, the track & field star who challenged Adolf Hitler's idea of Aryan supremacy at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Sudeikis will play Owens' obsessive mentor, Larry Snyder, with Owens as American Olympic Committee member Avery Brundage. Stephen Hopkins is directing from a screenplay by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel.
* Speaking of Jeremy Irons, he's also set to star in The Man Who Knew Infinity, a film that has been in the works for more than eight years. Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) and Devika Bhise will star with Matthew Brown making his writing and directorial debut. Patel plays autodidact math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan who, despite his formal training, is plucked from obscurity in Edwardian India by G.H. Hardy (Irons) to become a leader in the field. [Variety]
