Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o and ‘Kick-Ass’ star Chloë Grace Moretz have been cast as UFC fighters for a new MMA-based drama.
According to a report from Variety, the film “follows the journeys of two fighters who find themselves competing against each other in the Octagon. One is a young woman (Moretz) whose life is changed forever when she discovers her passion for the UFC, while the other is a former champion (Nyong’o) who is determined to reclaim her title by reinventing herself. Both want the same thing — respect — but only one can come out on top.”
Written by Paul Harrill, Strawweight will be the feature film directorial debut of James M. Johnston who previously worked as a producer on Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, The Old Man & the Gun, and The Green Knight.
Two-time UFC strawweight world champion ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas will serve as a fight consultant for the film as well as executive producing the project.
MOVIE NEWS: Lupita Nyong’o and Chloë Grace Moretz are set to play UFC Fighters in the new film #Strawweight.
via @Variety
Find more 🎥 news: https://t.co/xOBtxyMLYK pic.twitter.com/zSpgx0m1pc— VuduFans (@VuduFans) February 15, 2024
UFC Movie ‘Strawwewight’ Will Look to Follow in the Footsteps of 2011’s Warrior and 2020’s Bruised
Lupita Nyong’o is best known for her roles in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and Jordan Peele’s second feature film, Us. In 2013, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed film 12 Years a Slave. Later this year, she will star in A Quiet Place: Day One, scheduled to be released on June 28.
Chloë Grace Moretz is certainly no stranger to physical roles. She starred in the hit comic-book flick Kick-Ass in 2010 when she was just 12 years old. Her breakthrough performance as the foul-mouthed pint-sized crimefighter kickstarted a career that has seen her star in a variety of projects, including Carrie (2013), Neighbors 2, Hugo, Dark Shadows, and a Kick-Ass sequel.
It won’t be the first time that MMA has served as the backdrop for a dramatic sports story on the silver screen. Released in 2011, Warrior — starring Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte — earned rave reviews and even generated an Oscar nomination for Nolte.
Most recently, avid fight fan Halle Berry starred in Bruised, a 2020 film about a fledgling fighter who is forced to make some significant life choices after being reluctantly reunited with the son she abandoned
No release date for Strawweight has been announced.
