EXCLUSIVE: Boiling Point actor Ray Panthaki and producer Daniel Khalili have acquired rights to journalist Nick Pitt’s sports biography The Paddy & The Prince as they continue work on their previously announced biopic of former boxer Naseem Hamed.
The duo acquired the book through their new film company Le Bateau Lavoir. The biography charts the relationship between Hamed and his mentor, Brendan Ingle, in intimate detail from 1981 when a seven-year-old Hamed walked into Ingles’s gym, located in an old church hall in Sheffield. The book recounts their story, tracking their turbulent progress from that day on.
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Panthaki and Khalili’s currently untitled film project will be scripted by veteran screenwriter Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia), with production scheduled to begin early next year. Hamed is said to have a buy-in on the film.
“Having Naz on board the project was one thing, but it became abundantly clear during the writing process that Nick’s incredibly informative book had so much exclusive material, especially about Brendan, that we knew we needed to do all we could to acquire it,” Panthaki said.
“Thankfully, Nick agreed with our vision for the film, and we’re thrilled to not only be working with him, but now have every element in place to make the official ‘Naz’ movie, something that people have wanted to see for a long time. Coming off the back of Boiling Point, this is the perfect next project for us as a company.”
Le Bateau Lavoir has also recently acquired the rights to The Golden Spruce, John Vaillant’s award-winning nonfiction book about logger turned “eco-terrorist” Grant Hadwin, who stood against the billion-dollar industry to which he once belonged with devastating consequences.
Panthaki is repped by CAA in the US and CAM in the UK.
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