Exclusive: Alex Gibney is to exec produce MGM and Tadmor Entertainment’s limited series about judo champions Saeid Mollaei and Sagi Muki.
It comes after Mollaei’s emotional silver medal win in the Tokyo Olympics, where the Iranian refugee thanked Israel for his win after being driven out of his home country and now representing Mongolia. Similarly, Muki helped the Israeli judo team to a bronze medal.
Gibney is best known for directing documentaries such as Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, but has been moving into scripted television, exec producing series including Hulu’s The Looming Tower and Netflix’s Painkiller and directing an episode of Showtime’s Billions.
American-Iranian writer Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya M) will pen the script for the new limited series. Gibney and his Jigsaw Productions colleague Kevin Plunkett will exec produce alongside Nowrasteh, Emilio Schenker,...
It comes after Mollaei’s emotional silver medal win in the Tokyo Olympics, where the Iranian refugee thanked Israel for his win after being driven out of his home country and now representing Mongolia. Similarly, Muki helped the Israeli judo team to a bronze medal.
Gibney is best known for directing documentaries such as Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, but has been moving into scripted television, exec producing series including Hulu’s The Looming Tower and Netflix’s Painkiller and directing an episode of Showtime’s Billions.
American-Iranian writer Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya M) will pen the script for the new limited series. Gibney and his Jigsaw Productions colleague Kevin Plunkett will exec produce alongside Nowrasteh, Emilio Schenker,...
- 8/2/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: MGM/UA Television and Israel’s Tadmor Entertainment are developing a scripted television series based on the lives of judo world champions Saeid Mollaei and Sagi Muki.
The two companies have acquired the life rights to the duo and are working with the International Judo Federation to develop the series, which will feature exclusive footage of the athletes. A documentary about the pair is also in production.
Here’s the logline: “The incredible true story of Iranian Saeid Mollaei, one of history’s bravest athletes, who despite threats from his handlers, refused to give in and chose to compete against his friend Sagi Muki from Israel.
“As a result, Mollaei was forced to flee from his country and live as a refugee in Germany. Soon these two incredible judokas will meet on the mat for the first time during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. This is a story of bravery, friendship against all odds,...
The two companies have acquired the life rights to the duo and are working with the International Judo Federation to develop the series, which will feature exclusive footage of the athletes. A documentary about the pair is also in production.
Here’s the logline: “The incredible true story of Iranian Saeid Mollaei, one of history’s bravest athletes, who despite threats from his handlers, refused to give in and chose to compete against his friend Sagi Muki from Israel.
“As a result, Mollaei was forced to flee from his country and live as a refugee in Germany. Soon these two incredible judokas will meet on the mat for the first time during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. This is a story of bravery, friendship against all odds,...
- 3/1/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
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