Rickson Gracie To Have Life Turned Into Blockbuster Film

The life of legendary fighter Rickson Gracie is coming to the big screen.

Per a report from Deadline, filmmaker Adam Rifkin along with Brad Wyman and Michael P.J. Gerstein’s FutureIII Entertainment have acquired the rights to Gracie’s memoir, Breathe: A Life in Flow.

The son of Brazilian jiu-jitsu co-creator Helio Gracie, Rickson followed in his father’s footsteps as a world-class grappler who received his black belt when he was only 18 years old. Breathe: A Life in Flow follows his journey from fighting on the streets during the 1970s to his final fight in the Tokyo Dome in 2000 and the larger history of the Gracie family dynasty.

Not long after his half-brother, Royce Gracie, introduced himself to the world at the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event in 1993, Rickson Gracie won a multi-man-Vale Tudo tournament in Japan in 1994. Rickson earned three victories in one night and repeated the feat in 1995 before winning the first Pride Fighting Championship event in 1997 at the Tokyo Dome in front of 50,000 fans.

“It has been a long time coming for a movie based upon my life, but what’s most important to me, beyond everything else, is that anyone who watches it, will gain some sort of positive perspective or understanding in their lives,” Gracie told Deadline. “That’s my ultimate hope and goal for this project.”

Rickson Gracie Biopic will be a ‘Fact-Based’ and ‘Gritty’

Gerstein, who has been a member of Gracie’s jujitsu association for 24 years, has worked with the combat sports great to develop a character-driven story that goes beyond his critically acclaimed memoir to deliver a gritty fact-based drama that will pay tribute to the undefeated fighter.

 “It has been a long time coming for a movie based upon my life, but what’s most important to me, beyond everything else, is that anyone who watches it, will gain some sort of positive perspective or understanding in their lives,” Gerstein said. “That’s my ultimate hope and goal for this project.”

He added, “I’m absolutely ecstatic to have the opportunity to help tell the story of Rickson’s incredible journey and to honor his sacred legacy with a fact based, gritty character portrait, that will not pull any punches. A story like this comes around once in a lifetime and it’s extremely important we get it right and tell it in the most effective manner possible” (h/t MMA Fighting).