Skydance Sports Boards Hyde Park’s Arthur Ashe Biopic; Elegance Bratton In Talks To Direct

EXCLUSIVE: With Wimbledon in full swing, here’s some news about one of its greats. Skydance Sports is coming aboard Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group biopic about Wimbledon tennis champ and African American civil rights activist Arthur Ashe. The Inspection and By Any Means director Elegance Bratton is in talks to direct.

Deadline previously told you that BlacKkKlansman Oscar winner Kevin Willmott is already set to write.

Hyde Park Entertainment and Skydance Sports are producing together.

The Ashe movie is one that’s close to Amritraj’s heart, the producer being a former tennis pro himself. Hyde Park obtained the full support of the Arthur Ashe Estate in developing the project. Ashok Amritraj and Priya Amritraj are producing for Hyde Park. Chester Algernal Gordon is producing through their company Freedom Principle. Executive producers are Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and Alexandra Dell.

Ashe’s inspirational and aspirational story begins on the public courts in Richmond, VA, as he rises to become the only Black man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, ranking No. 1 in the world. The year 1968, when Ashe wins the U.S. Open, is one of the most charged eras in American history as the nation struggles with the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., anti-Vietnam protests and the civil rights movement. Ashe forges his role within the Black revolution in America, finding his own unique voice as he strikes a bold new path against apartheid in South Africa and helps open the country to freedom.

Jersey City, NJ-born Bratton cut his teeth in filmmaking in the 2010s writing, directing and producing myriad projects including the short film Walk for Me and the reality TV series My House. Bratton’s feature directorial debut, The Inspection, which follows a young gay Black man’s enlistment in the Marines, world premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and was released by A24. The pic starred Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union and Bokeem Woodbine.

Bratton also recently directed the crime thriller By Any Means from Hammerstone Studios, Thunder Road, Freedom Principle and North.Five.Six. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Giancarlo Esposito and Josh Lucas.

Hyde Park’s movies have grossed in excess of $2 billion. Its current slate includes the English-language remake of legendary cult classic horror thriller Audition at Focus Features with filmmaker Christian Tafdrup (Speak No Evil) writing and directing; Rubik’s, a mind-bending cinematic treatment of the world’s bestselling toy, in partnership with Fifth Season; a premium ongoing TV series adaptation of the sequel memoir novel to BlacKkKlansman titled Hip Hop Cop in partnership with 50 Cent, created by Oscar winner Willmott and to be directed by Anthony Hemingway; the feature film adaptation of Richard Wright’s incendiary bestselling novel The Man Who Lived Underground written by Kenya Barris and in partnership with his Khalabo Ink Society; and more.

Skydance Sports’ first two projects include the Emmy nominated docuseries Good Rivals and the Golden Globe-nominated feature film Air, both streaming on Prime Video. In 2022, Skydance partnered with the NFL and NFL Films on a joint venture to expand multi-platform programming across sports in a broad range of formats for partners, fans, and viewers. That partnership’s projects include the upcoming docuseries America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys chronicling the Dallas Cowboys dynasty and franchise owner Jerry Jones, a documentary feature Elway, a docuseries on tennis icon Rafael Nadal and WWE: Unreal, all for Netflix; as well as the Hallmark Christmas movie Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story; a docuseries on WNBA legend Diana Taurasi for Prime Video; a docuseries on the Kansas City Chiefs with ESPN; a docuseries on the San Francisco 49ers for AMC; a docuseries on the UConn woman’s basketball team for Apple TV+; a scripted series for Hulu written and executive produced by Dan Fogelman set inside the world of the NFL; and a feature film about NFL player John Tuggle.

Recently released projects include Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, Stadium Lockup, Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, Freediver and the Sports Emmy-nominated NFL Draft: The Pick is In, Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants, and Kelce.

Bratton is repped by WME, 2AM and Granderson Des Rochers. Willmott is represented by Gersh and Erik Hyman at Paul Hastings.