Lenny Abrahamson’s next movie is to be a biopic of Emile Griffith, the bisexual World Champion American welter and middleweight who, after he’d taunted him about his sexuality, beat up opponent Benny Paret so badly that he later died from his injuries.
“It is so rich that it’s hard to know where to start,” the Irish director tells Deadline. “As a character study, Griffith is incredibly compelling. There was a gentleness and innocence about him, and he never seemed conflicted about his sexuality; indeed he found joy in it. He inhabited two worlds - the underground gay scene in New York in the ’60s and the macho world of boxing. The societal stigma at that time was dreadful and created a crushing pressure on him.”
The film will be adapted from Donald McRae’s excellent new biography, A Man’s World: The Double Life Of Emile Griffith.
It includes the famous Griffith quote: “I kill a man and most people forgive me. However, I love a man and many say that makes me an evil person.”
Having been a massive film festival hit, Abrahamson’s latest film, Room, receives its general Irish release on January 15.