Finn Cole to Play Olympic Gold Medalist Wrestler Dan Gable Alongside Co-Stars Ben Foster, Leslie Bibb & KJ Apa
Ben Foster (The Messenger), Leslie Bibb (The White Lotus), and KJ Apa (Riverdale) have signed on to star in Gable, a film telling the extraordinary true story of Olympic gold medalist wrestler Dan Gable, who will be played by Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom actor Finn Cole. Jon Greenhalgh, the News & Documentary Emmy nominee behind Netflix’s wrestling doc Team Foxcatcher, will direct from a script written with Michael Wallach (The Bay).
Gable chronicles the athlete’s journey, as a working-class kid from Waterloo, Iowa who overcame an unthinkable family tragedy to become one of the most dominant athletes in the history of combat sports, compiling a 181-1 record throughout high school and college, and ultimately facing off against the powerful Soviets at the height of the Cold War.
Considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable won two NCAA titles at Iowa State University and took gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics, without surrendering a single point across six matches.
“Dan is legendary for his relentless training,” Greenhalgh told us, “but this is a film about what lies beneath that iron-clad exterior.”
Following his career in the ring, Gable achieved similar success during his 21-year run as head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa, with a 355-21-5 record and 15 NCAA championship wins. Inducted into both the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and Wrestling Hall of Fame, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020.
via: Deadline