Movies & TV
Uche Agada, Yetide Badaki to star in Giannis Antetokounmpo Inspired Disney Film “Greek Freak”
The Walt Disney Studios is producing a live-action film incited by NBA star, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s life and family, for streamer Disney+.
The movie is titled “Greek Freak” a nickname he earned for his mind-blowing basketball skills.
According to Variety, the film has announced three of its leads to include Uche Agada who will star as Antetokounmpo, while Dayo Okeniyi will play Charles, and Yetide Badaki will star as Vera.
Born to Nigerian immigrants in Greece, Antetokounmpo started out playing basketball in Europe before moving to the U.S. in 2013 to play for the Milwaukee Bucks. He quickly established himself as a major star on the team, and has since been named a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, a five-time All Star, and NBA Defensive Player of the Year, among other accolades. He signed a five-year contract extension with the Bucks in December that is reportedly valued at $228 million.
“Greek Freak” will be written by Arash Amel and directed by Akin Omotoso who shared the news on social media saying, “Dreams Are Made Of This! So Excited To Welcome @yetide @dayookeniyi & #UcheAgada To Our Family! Salute To My Peoples @berniegoldmann @thearashamel Our Incredible Partners Sean Bailey, Vanessa Morrison, @chazsalembier Louie Provost, Randi Hiller, Michael A Morlani And The Rest Of The Team @disney @disneyplus And As Always @giannis_an34 @thanasis_ante43 @veronica_ante3443 @kostas__ante13 @alex_ante29 @ofili_official Thank You For The Opportunity To Tell Your Beautiful Story ?”
With production set to begin soon in Greece and the U.S, “Greek Freak” will be produced by Bernie Goldmann and executive produced by Antetokounmpo.
For, Uche Agada, his role in the film will make it his onscreen debut following his audition for the role, after coming across the casting call announcement from Antetokounmpo’s Twitter.
Yetide who is represented by Innovative Artists has previously stared in Starz “American Gods”, “What We Found”, NBC’s “This Is Us”, “The Long Shadow” among others. Sharing the news on Instagram, she wrote:
So excited to be a part of bringing @giannis_an34 incredible story to the screen! Thanks @disneyplus @disney @akinomotoso and @thearashamel for the script that had me sobbing happy tears. @dayookeniyi #UcheAgada can’t wait to play!!! And as you say Dayo #naijanodeycarrylast ?? ??❤️
Thanks @variety for sharing the news and @innovativeartists @josiah624 @melissabethhirschenson for all you do❤️
Okeniyi, repped by UTA, Cultivate Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP also has credits for his roles in NBC’s “Shades of Blue“, “Terminator Genisys”, “See”, “Runner Runner,” and more. He also posted the news on Instagram with the caption:
Next Up #GreekFreak This one hits super close to home. ???? Excited to be joining the @disney @disneystudios @disneyplus family with this powerful immigrant story. #NijaNeverCarryLast #PositiveVibesOnly
Photo Credit:
Uche Agada – Variety
