From her breakout role in Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish has risen to stardom as a comedic goldmine, flaunting an Emmy for her for 2018 hosting of Saturday Night Live and a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. The actress has graced our screens largely with her impeccable quips and over-the-top humor, but now she is set to star as the fastest woman in the world in her latest project.
Haddish will be playing Olympic icon Florence Griffith Joyner, lovingly remembered as “Flo-Jo,” in the upcoming game1 biopic. Aside from her record-setting performance at the 1988 Seoul Olympics which scored her three gold medals, Joyner’s long decorated acrylic nails and signature flamboyant one-legged leotard (that she designed herself!) spotlighted her luminous star quality both on and off the field. Her legacy is gilded by her historic records for the 100-meter and 200-meter (which have yet to be broken) and her enduring influence in the sports arena. “I am looking forward to telling Flo-Jo’s story the way it should be told,” Haddish said in a statement per Vulture. “My goal with this film is making sure that younger generations know my ‘she-ro’ Flo-Jo, the fastest woman in the world to this day, existed.” Haddish credits Joyner as her childhood heroine, a testament to what the track star’s image meant for young Black girls and the community as a whole. Joyner unexpectedly passed away in 1998 at the age of 38 from an epileptic seizure.
Haddish, game1 co-CEOs Basil Iwanyk and Greg Economou along with Melanie Clark will also serve as producers on the film. In addition, Flo-Jo’s widower and former coach, Al Joyner, will serve as a producer and creative consultant on the project. Joyner has already begun training with methods and routines his wife used to prepare Haddish for the role. “I am so elated to team up with game1 and Tiffany Haddish on this project,” said Joyner, according to Deadline. “Working with Tiffany has been a great pleasure — she is incredibly dedicated, focused, and committed to portraying the spirit of Florence accurately, whose legacy of making a difference in the world will live on for generations to come. I hope that this film touches all who see it and inspires people to BE the change the world so desperately needs right now!”
