Perhaps we can thank 7 Days in Hell, but tennis films seem to be all the rage this fall, albeit in a less comedic form than Andy Samberg’s spoof. While Emma Stone and Steve Carell will square off in Battle of the Sexes this September, the same month will see the international debut — and likely fall festival premiere — of another tennis drama, Borg vs. McEnroe.
Starring Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and Shia LaBeouf as McEnroe, the film is directed by acclaimed Swedish helmer Janus Metz (Armadillo), and the first trailer has now landed. Judging from this first preview, it’s intriguing to see a sports drama such as this coming from a Swedish perspective rather than than the all-too-frequent American view we normally get.
Check out the trailer below.
Wimbledon, 1980. The rainiest summer in decades. The world is waiting to see the number one tennis player in the world, Björn Borg, claim his fifth Wimbledon title. But few know of the drama behind the scenes: at only 24, Borg is close to the end – run-down, worn out and ridden with anxiety. Meanwhile, the challenger John McEnroe, 20, has decided to replace his former hero on the Wimbledon throne.
Borg/McEnroe is a story about the price of success. How the world’s two best tennis players, already in their early twenties, are imprisoned by their own careers. Two athletes constantly reduced to each other’s opposites by a commercialized tennis industry: the cartoonish ”lce Borg” and ”Superbrat”. Two rivals who, during Wimbledon 1980, are forced to realize that the only person capable of understanding what they are going through is their worst enemy.
Borg vs. McEnroe will get an international release this fall.