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Here we pick 5 sportspeople that need to be made, sports stories of resilience and rivalries waiting to be portrayed on screen and brought to life. Each of the people on this list has had their own significant share of ups, downs and everything in between. They have experienced rivalries, enmities and friendships, the highest points their careers could bring and the lowest. They have had periods of utter dejection and despair, and known what it feels like to be on top of the world - the stuff movies are made of, and should be made of. These sportspeople have been idolised and felt invincible, and been utterly vilified, even received death threats. With illustrious careers that could rival any film, their lives would completely light up the silver screen. We chronicled some iconic sportsmen and suggested actors who could play them:
#1 Woody Harrelson as Lance Armstrong
Once regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time, The American, who fought a severe form of testicular cancer,wasa seven-time Tour de France winner who had his title stripped from him when it was revealed he had been doping throughout his career. The allegations were persistent throughout his career, and came to light when in 2010 an investigation revealed that they had, for the most part, been true.
From being a star of world sport to being banned from Olympic sport from life, this once iconic star has suffered a massive fall from grace.
We think actor Woody Harrelson closely resembles the actor and could do justice to the part. Incidentally, Harrelson was part of a 2003 documentary on cycling.
#2 Liam Neeson as Frank Lampard
Ace footballer and Chelseas all-time top goalscorer, London-born Lampard has had a long and illustrious career, having been described in the media as Chelseas greatest-ever player. The son of former footballer Frank Sr., he was first capped in 1997, becoming a regular on the English squad in 2004. He would go on to be the highest goal scorer in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers and won Man of the Match in their game against Paraguay, though England did not progress past the quarterfinals.
Lampard and England teammate Steven Gerrard made one of the most lethal midfield pairs in Englandhistory.
His continued illustrious football career (he currently plays for Manchester City) will take him overseas to the United States at the end of the English season, where he will spar off against Gerrard for their respective American clubs, Lampard with New York City FC and Gerrard with LA Galaxy.
Despite a 25-year age difference,Liam Neeson and Frank Lampard resemble each other, and the Schindlers List actor could more than do justice to the role.
#3 Jim Carrey as Michael Schumacher
The title of greatest F1 driver in the world could arguably only be held by two people, both of whom are on this list Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.
A seven-time World Champion, Schumacher has been an idol for many in the sport, including current World Champion Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher mentoredformer World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who is now driving for Michaels old team, Scuderia Ferrari. His friendship and longtime rivalry with Finnish champion Mika Hakkinen is the stuff of films.
Rubberface Jim Carrey, with his identical smile and no dearth of acting talent, is a good choice to play Schumacher.
#4 Rodrigo Santoro as Ayrton Senna
While many Formula 1 fans hold Senna and Schumacher to the title of greatest F1 driver of all time, Schumacher himself considers Senna the rightful holder of that moniker. With 65 pole positions and 41 wins, Sennas statistics speak for themselves. The famously emotional Senna was also a philanthropist, known to donate millions of dollars towards various charitable causes.
Fernando Alonso, widely known as The Greatest Driver to never win a championshipand ace driver Felipe Massa are known to idolise Senna, as does World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who is quoted as remembering exactly where I am (sic) the day Senna died.
A 2010 documentary made by Asif Kapadia in 2010 chronicles Sennas life and death, and his famous rivalry with four-time World ChampionAlain Prost.It relies primarily on archive racetrack footage and home video clips provided by the Senna family, rather than retrospective video interviews. A film version of his life would be an extremely interesting watch.
300 actor Rodrigo Santoro, who is also Brazilian and shares Sennas mop of curly hair and chiseled features could play him in the film.
#5 Arbaaz Khan as Roger Federer
The Swiss ace is regarded by many connoisseurs of the sport, commentators and his fellow players as the greatest tennis player of all time. The 17-time Grand Slam winner, currently #2 in the world, has been in the top 10 for over a decade. He held onto his World #1 ranking for 302 weeks, or roughly 6 years. He shares records with past icons of the game such as Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.
An extremely versatile player,Federer is effective across courts and seasons; Connors once famously summarised Federer thus:"In an era of specialists, you're either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist, or a hard court specialist... or you're Roger Federer."
Federer can be portrayed by his home-grown, Bollywood doppelganger: Arbaaz Khan.
