Shia LaBeouf will be John McEnroe in new tennis drama

Shia LaBeouf

by James White |
Published on

Given his more recent propensity for performance art work and odd stunts, Shia LaBeouf somehow seems a logical choice to play outspoken, occasionally outrageous tennis legend John McEnroe. So it has come to pass, with LaBeouf joining Borg/McEnroe.

Quite how any tennis player would fare against the networked forces and gigantic cubed ships of a biomechanical race from the Delta Qua... Which we're actually being told is something else entirely. No, this would instead chronicle the hard-fought sports rivalry between the hot-headed American champ and the cooly logical Björn Borg, Sweden's top player in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Sverrir Gudnason will be Borg, who faced off against McEnroe in 14 critical matches between 1978 and '81, both winning seven matches, including two classic clashes at Wimbledon. Stellan Skarsgard will be Lennart Bergelin, Borg's coach.

Danish director Janus Metz will call the shots and the games this autumn in London, Sweden, Monaco and New York, with Ronnie Sandahl on script duty. LaBeouf is at Cannes to promote Andrea Arnold's new film, American Honey, which has yet to lock in a release date.

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