Paddy Considine gave the best TV performance of 2022 as King Viserys I Targaryen on House of the Dragon, and if he doesn’t at least get an Emmy nomination for Best Actor, I will set fire to the rain. But whatever happens during awards season, it’s cool to see that his turn as the doomed Targaryen monarch is at least leading to some high-profile career opportunities, as Deadline reports that he’s been cast in Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming boxing drama Giant.
And just to get this out of the way, no, this has nothing to do with Rocky. Stallone is producing this movie about the real life story of British-Yemeni boxer Prince Naseem “Naz” Hamed, who went from the slums of Sheffield to a world championship under the guidance of his Irish boxing trainer, Brendan Ingle. Considine will play Ingle. Mena Massoud, best known as for playing Aladdin in Disney’s 2019 live-action remake of the 1992 animated classic, is Hamed.
“I have wanted to bring this movie to screen for many years,” said director Rowan Athale. “The story of fabled boxing trainer Brendan Ingle and his tempestuous relationship with protege ‘Prince’ Naseem is both legendary and truly cinematic. It’s exciting, necessary, hilarious, and heartbreaking, and to be making this movie with the incomparable Paddy Considine and Mena Massoud, and with the support of the one and only Sylvester Stallone and his Balboa Productions team, is a dream come true.”
House of the Dragon star Paddy Considine (Viserys Targaryen) lands lead role in new boxing drama
I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Naseem Hamed or Brendan Ingle, but if their story is “exciting, necessary, hilarious, and heartbreaking,” it does sound like it would make a good movie, so count me in, especially if Considine is involved. He has a new fan after House of the Dragon.
There’s no release date for Giant as of yet. They just announced its existence, give it a minute.
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