After an extremely bumpy road, soccer superstar Pelé’s biopic “Pelé: Birth of a Legend,” will finally hit theatres after its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this April. The movie was shopped at Cannes last year without any takers despite the fact that it’s about possibly the greatest footballer of all time, and it’s backed by super producer Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment.
Perhaps two major factors played in to the fact that the film couldn’t find a solid distributor; for one, the 2014 World Cup had just passed, meaning millions of potential dollars were lost due to the hype; and secondly, the FIFA scandals didn’t exactly help the mystic surrounding the sport. However, IFC Films acquired the North American rights to the film last September and it’s set to hit theatres on May 16.
Co-written and co-directed by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, the biopic follows the story of a young Pelé from childhood until he won his first World Cup in Sweden at 17 years old. The film stars Leonardo Lima Carvalho (10-year-old Pelé) and Kevin de Paula (13 to 17-year-old Pelé), as well as Vincent D'Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro, Diego Boneta, Colm Meaney and Seu Jorge.
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