Posted by | Ray Cornelius
She has covered several magazines including ESSENCE, chatted with FLOTUS and Oprah, had a letter written about her by Beyoncé, a mural painted in her honor and now a Lifetime movie about her historic Olympic victory. I’m talking about non-other than Miss Gabby Douglas.
The two-time Olympic Gold winner will be the subject of a new made-for-television film slated to debut next year. The film will star Regina King as Gabby’s mother and S. Epatha Merkerson as her grandmother.
Tentatively titled, The Gabby Douglas Story, the project will chronicle the rise of Gabby “The Flying Squirrel” Douglas, who eventually became a member of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won gold medals in both the individual and team all-around competitions.
Reportedly, actress Sydney Mikayla will play Douglas as a child along with former Everybody Hates Chris star Imani Hakim (pictured left) as the teenage Douglas.
Here is the official film synopsis:
A prodigy from a very young age, Gabby Douglas originally made her mark on the world of competitive gymnastics at age eight. She won numerous state championship titles in her age group throughout her early competitive career. While her star was fast rising in the arena, Gabby and her family faced economic challenges at home and she made the difficult decision to leave her mother Natalie (King), three siblings and grandmother (Merkerson) in Virginia Beach and move to Des Moines, Iowa, to train with renowned coach Liang Chow (Brian Tee, The Wolvernine) to pursue her dream of Olympic glory. Buoyed by her early success, dedication and unyielding love from her family, Gabby made it onto the 2012 U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team, with whom she faced intense competition in the London Games. Her sacrifice and perseverance were triumphantly rewarded with Team Competition and Individual All-round gold medals, placing Gabby and her teammates – known as “The Fierce Five” — among the world’s all-time greats in gymnastics.
Filming for The Gabby Douglas Story is slated to start in Manitoba, Canada and will debut sometime in 2014.
RC will keep you posted as more information becomes available.
