Film producers bidding to turn Mo Farah’s life story into Hollywood biopic.

Image Credit: BBC

Last week BBC One aired the astounding documentary 'The Real Mo Farah', in which Mo shared publicly for the first time the true story of how he got to the UK. It left most of us speechless, finding out he was born with a different name, lost his father aged only 4, and was trafficked to the UK aged 9 with a false passport.

Since it aired on Wednesday July 13th, the BBC team behind the documentary have reportedly been contacted by drama producers keen to dramatise Mo’s life.

Ultimately, the decision whether to say yes to a film would be up to Mo himself, something that Leo Burley who directed the documentary said when he spoke to i. He said:

There’s no question the film has excited a lot of people I know who work in drama, and some of them have been ringing me. It would be Mo’s decision whether he wanted to turn his story into a feature film.

BBC documentaries commissioner, Emma Loach, has also spoken about the idea of a feature film inspired by Sir Mo Farah, saying it “would be great” and a project the BBC would want to be involved in.

It’s no surprise that producers are keen to get this story to the big screen - aside from it being an awe inspiring story, sports biopics are having a bit of a moment in cinema right now. Critically acclaimed King Richard told the story of Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, and it saw Will Smith win his first Oscar. In recent years we’ve also seen I, Tonya, Eddie the Eagle, Maradonna: Blessed Dream, Le Mans ‘66, and Rush.

Speaking about the success of the documentary, Leo Burley said

One of the great successes we’ve had is that charities and NGO’s are reporting increased interest in the issue of child trafficking. We wanted the film to have an impact on the national conversation especially at this particular time.

Perhaps a feature film will add to that societal impact? Only time will tell. But for now a spokesman for Sir Mo’s team has said he is now taking some time out with his family.