Lenny Abrahamson's Room is on track to score a number of Oscar nominations for itself in the coming weeks, including a possible Best Picture and Best Director for the Irish director's first international film.
However, instead of resting on his laurels, Abrahamson's already gearing up for his next film; an adaptation of one of the most fascinating stories in professional boxing and an award-winning biography.
Emile Griffith is perhaps best known for beating Benny 'The Kid' Paret to death during a live, televised boxing match in 1962, an event that haunted Griffith for the rest of his life. However, the story behind the event is the real crux of Donald McRae's biography.
Griffith was a closeted bisexual who was taunted with homophobic slurs by Paret during their weigh-in. Griffith understandably took offence and wanted to punish Paret during their match, which ultimately led to the shocking outcome of their match-up.
Abrahamson's work, so far, has been adapting novels. Frank, What Richard Did and Room were all adapted from novels and so to is A Man's World, the biography of Emile Griffith written by Donald McRae.
Film4 has teamed up with Irish stalwarts Element Pictures who optioned the film rights for Abrahamson to adapt. It's early stages yet, with no firm idea on casting or when it'll be in production, but it's definitely an interesting prospect for Abrahamson and should be an intriguing follow-up to Room
