Da Brick: ****e Lee takes on Mike Tyson

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/sep/01/da-brick-****e-lee-mike-tyson American premium cable channel HBO has commissioned film director sp ike Lee to make a pilot for a series based on the life of heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson. Da Brick will reflect aspects of Tyson's New Jersey upbringing and early career and is said to be a boxing equivalent to Entourage, whose creator Doug Ellin is also involved in the project. South London newcomer John Boyega, whose only previous role was as Moses in Joe Cornish's Attack the Block, has been cast as the main character. A boxing drama is a good fit for HBO, which built its audience on world-title fights going as far back as 1975, when the channel screened the Ali v Frazier "Thrilla In Manilla" via satellite in the US. It does however beg the question – why are there so few TV dramas based around sport? Despite our global obsession with sports stars and their private lives – not to mention the amount of money spent consuming it – it's difficult to think of many quality TV dramas based around sport, American football based Friday Night Lights, aside. That show manages to strike the right mix of sport and drama, and is compelling and engaging in a way that every other sports drama fails to be – perhaps, because like Da Brick, it's based on real-life events. Perhaps the issue is the problem of making the sports action seem real. This is where sports dramas often struggle: the athleticism on display in Jossy's Giants, for instance, wasn't really that different from that occasionally seen in Footballers' Wives. Sky's Dream Team attempted realism by employing professional footballers for their occasional sport scenes but they proved even less convincing. And while there are numerous great films about sport such as Field of Dreams, This Sporting Life and The Fighter, there are very few TV equivalents. Why? Is it because TV has become the medium of live sport and broadcasters feel there's no appetite for sport fiction? Does sweat not look as good on the small screen? Perhaps all sports-based TV drama should follow Da Brick and base the plot around a real-life sports personality. It's easy to see the appeal of Tyson for HBO. There is plenty from his life to draw on – including his tumultuous marriage to Robin Givens and a 1992 conviction for rape – although the show is likely to be inspired by Tyson's life rather than a straightforward biopic. In which case whose life do you think is worthy of small-screen dramatisation and for bonus points, who would you cast in the lead role? Surely the life and times of Paul Gascoigne is waiting to be turned into a G.B.H. style six-parter? The playboy swagger and ultimate downfall of James Hunt could test the skills of Benedict Cumberbatch. Any thoughts?