Brazilian jiujitsu will get its source story told by José Padilha, the film maker behind the police thriller Elite Squad along with Netflix’s crime dramatization Narcos.
Padilha will lead to Dead or Alive, being made by Netflix, and will create the script with Peter Maguire.
BJJ master Jean Jacques Machado revealed to Sherdog.com that the Netflix movie’s budget will be approximately $100 million. It will be released in English, Portuguese and Japanese, and its release date is targeted for the second half of 2021. For a time it will see a theatrical release, and then it will move fully to Netflix.
Dead or Alive centers around two men, Mitsuyo Maeda and Rickson Gracie as the narrative tells an epic tale that stretches in 1800-era Japan to provide day US and Japan since it centers on two men from vastly different worlds who developed and spread a mixed style which became known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Brazilian actor and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Caua Reymond will be cast as Rickson Gracie. Reymond who is a superstar in Brazil, has been training Jiu-Jitsu for close to 25 years, has admitted in many interviews over the years that Rickson has always been his idol. The 39-year-old Reymond has appeared in numerous popular films and soap operas in his home country. Reymond was awarded his BJJ black belt from Alexandre Paiva back in 2002.
Caua Reymond has been spending a lot of time with Rickson Gracie in California, getting to know the character he will be playing.
Caua Reymond, on the right with Rickson and Jean Jacques Machado:
View this post on Instagram
Film director Padilha headed the 2014 picture of Robocop before going onto being the executive producer and director of Narcos, the acclaimed true-life cartel crime play . This news was first reported by THR.
Maeda was sort of martial arts ambassador who went to the Americas from Japan to flaunt the grappling art. He met with Carlos Gracie, with the 2 becoming student and master. Gracie later educated his brothers, finally creating a family dynasty of both MMA professionals and champions that lasts to this day. Rickson Gracie, Carlos Gracie’s nephew, is a now-retired fighter that obtained numerous champions and is an inductee into the MMA Hall of Fame.
“This is a film with universal appeal with remarkable real-life characters,” said Silverman in a statement. “Rickson Gracie is one of the greatest fighters of all time and we are honored to share his story.”
He added, “I have been an admirer of José’s for years, and we are honored he has chosen Stampede to collaborate with on Dead or Alive, and to share it with Netflix’s global audience.”
Jean Jacques Machado revealed more about the project:
“Padilha is studying hard the whole history and, besides Rickson, he will bring a lot of Maeda Koma. He found out many similar points between Koma and Rickson. I´m really glad to see the history of the biggest hero of my generation being told to the world. I can’t wait to see this movie ready.”
