Shiloh Fernandez (“Red Riding Hood,” “Jericho”) will portray the five-time world champion boxer Johnny Tapia in the Eddie Alcazar-directed indie biopic “Johnny” at Anonymous Content says THR.
Based on true events of Tapia’s tragic early years – his father was killed while he was still in the womb, while his mother was raped and murdered when he was 8. Unsurprisingly these traumas led to a life of drug addiction.
Tapia began boxing at age 9 and became a star in the late 1990s, winning titles including the WBO super flyweight and WBO bantamweight.
Later in life his brother-in-law and nephew were killed in a car accident on their way to a hospital to visit Tapia who had suffered a cocaine overdose.
Shooting on the project will kick off next year.
