Shia LaBeouf has taken on many diverse roles in his rather curious career, but now he gets to channel his inner tennis player as John McEnroe in the upcoming tennis drama Borg/McEnroe. Is it going to be a major stretch for LaBeouf to play a famous narcissist with a volatile temper? Probably not.
The first photos from Borg/McEnroe hit the web today, courtesy of a few different Twitter pages, and though they don’t tell us much about what to expect from it, we can at least say that LaBeouf looks like the spitting image of McEnroe, though the fabulous 80s hair certainly helps the illusion along.
First image of Shia LaBeouf and Sverrir Gudnason as John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg from the upcoming movie “Borg/McEnr… pic.twitter.com/wRn5M9IA7c
— PiFiZone (@PiFiZone) October 4, 2016
Shia LaBeouf as Tennis Star John McEnroe in a new Biopic currently filming in Sweden… but does he look anything like McEnroe? pic.twitter.com/URpX7tsO5y
— Dom Atkins (@domatkins) October 5, 2016
Borg/McEnroe tells the story of the intense tennis rivalry between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg (played here by Sverrir Gudnason), who met fourteen times on the regular tour. McEnroe’s famously volatile personality (he regularly fought with officials) contrasted with Borg’s calm demeanor both on and off the court. This resulted in the “Fire and Ice” comparison that became the title of an HBO documentary on their rivalry.
We all love sports rivalries, and the Borg vs. McEnroe one seems tailor-made for a feature film. Director Janus Metz Pederson has already made a TV documentary about the rivalry back in the 90s, so he knows what he’s doing. And while it’s very easy to make fun of LaBeouf, he has occasionally proven himself a good actor when he can keep his less charming antics at bay. He seems good casting for McEnroe. Nothing like hiring an angry, talented narcissist to play an angry, talented narcissist, right?
Borg/McEnroe is currently filming with a cast that also includes Stellan Skarsgaard. It’s expected to come to theaters in 2017.
