Pierce Brosnan and Amir El-Masry have signed up to star in a biopic about British boxer ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed.

The Egyptian-British actor, best known for roles in The Crown, The Night Manager and A Haunting in Venice, has been tapped to play the world featherweight champion in the sports drama Giant.

He will star opposite the former James Bond actor as Hamed’s Irish-born boxing trainer Brendan Ingle.

Giant is the true story of Hamed’s humble beginnings on the tough working-class streets of Sheffield and his discovery by Ingle, himself a steel industry worker-turned-boxing trainer.

“Their unlikely partnership along with Naz’s unorthodox style, cocky persona and sheer dominance in the ring, propelled them to the top of boxing’s elite and unprecedented levels of global superstardom, all in the face of the rampant Islamophobia and racism of 80s and 90s Britain,” the synopsis reads.

The film will be written and directed by Rowan Athale and executive produced by Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood of Balboa Productions. Stallone, who famously played boxer Rocky Balboa in the Rocky franchise, is set to star in Athale’s other directorial outing Little America.

Stuart Ford, the Chairman and CEO of AGC Studios, the company behind the feature, described the tale as an “extraordinary story” with Brosnan and El-Masry as “a powerful lead duo”.

Giant’s interior scenes were originally planned to be filmed in Malta, however, the entirety of the production will now be shot in the U.K., with principal photography due to start in Leeds later this month.

Hamed, who has Yemeni heritage, competed professionally between 1992 and 2002. He is now 50 years old.

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