Jackie Robinson will be the focus of this spring's new biopic '42'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold;">Jackie Robinson will be played by 'The Express' actor Chadwick Boseman. Robinson is famous as the first African-American player to break the color barrier in major league baseball.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">By </span><a class="ui-author" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Molly-Driscoll" rel="author" style="background-color: white; color: #205d87; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Molly Driscoll</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span class="ui-staffline" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Staff Writer</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> / January 31, 2013 From: </span>http://www.csmonitor.com<br /><img height="426" src="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/01-31robinson2/14904979-1-eng-US/01-31robinson_full_380.jpg" width="640" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">As portrayed by the </span><a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Google+Inc." style="background-color: white; color: #205d87; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Google</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> Doodle, baseball player </span><a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Jackie+Robinson" style="background-color: white; color: #205d87; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Jackie Robinson</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> would have turned 94 today, but the biopic coming out in April about his life and his struggle to survive as he played in the baseball major leagues will take its title from a different number – “42,” Robinson’s famous jersey numeral.</span><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">“42” stars “The Express” actor <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Chadwick+Boseman" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Chadwick Boseman</a> as Robinson and <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Harrison+Ford" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Harrison Ford</a> as <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Branch+Rickey" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Branch Rickey</a>, an executive in major league baseball who was responsible for bringing Robinson onto the <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Los+Angeles+Dodgers" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Brooklyn Dodgers</a>. <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/John+C.+McGinley" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">John C. McGinley</a> of the TV show “<a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Scrubs+(TV+Show)" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Scrubs</a>” will play broadcaster Walter “Red” Barber, “<a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Law+%26+Order%3a+Special+Victims+Unit" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Law and Order: SVU</a>” actor <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Christopher+Meloni" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Christopher Meloni</a> will portray Dodgers manager <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Leo+Durocher" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Leo Durocher</a> and actress <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Nicole+Beharie" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Nicole Beharie</a>(also of “The Express”) will play Robinson’s wife Rachel Isum.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">The best-known adaptation of Robinson’s life before now was the 1950 film “The Jackie Robinson Story,” in which Robinson played himself in the story of how he broke the color barrier in baseball. The second baseman (though he started his time on the Dodgers on first base) starred as himself eight years after the film about <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Lou+Gehrig" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Lou Gehrig</a>’s life, “The Pride of the Yankees,” featured <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/New+York+Yankees" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">New York Yankees</a> <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Babe+Ruth" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Babe Ruth</a>, <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Bill+Dickey" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Bill Dickey</a>, <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Mark+Koenig" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Mark Koenig</a>, and Bob Meusel playing themselves. </div><div class="promotion-tag" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="promotion-tag-p" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">RECOMMENDED: <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2012/0130/Film-critics-pick-the-50-best-movies-of-all-time/Bonnie-and-Clyde?nav=621741-csm_blog_post-promoLink" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">The 50 best movies of all time</a></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">“The Express,” the 2008 film in which Boseman and Beharie both acted, was also a sports film, telling the story of African-American <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Ernie+Davis" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Ernie Davis</a>, who played for<a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Syracuse+University" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Syracuse University</a> and was the first black player to win the <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Heisman+Trophy" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Heisman trophy</a>. Boseman portrayed <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Floyd+Little" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Floyd Little</a>, a running back for <a class="inform_link" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Syracuse" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Syracuse</a>, while Beharie played Sarah Ward, a fictionalized version of Davis’s girlfriend.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">“42” will open on April 12, three days before the date Robinson first played for the Dodgers. (April 12 is a Friday this year, a traditional movie-opening day, which may explain the slight difference.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Boseman said that he met Rachel Isum Robinson early on once he had been cast as the famous baseball player.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">“The first thing she said was basically, 'Who are you, and why do you get to play my husband?’” Boseman told the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-sneaks-boseman-20130113,0,2347774.story" style="color: #205d87; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>. “We were sitting in her office down on [New York's] Varick Street, and she was talking to me and showing me photo albums, and she </div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z9TJz-vMJq8?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">told me she was a little nervous about me playing him.” </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Robinson later told him that her fears were allayed, he said, but Boseman himself still feels the pressure of portraying a legend.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">“It's intimidating because everybody has their interest in who he is," he said. "He's a lot of different things to a lot of different people."</div></div>

Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson will be the focus of this spring's new biopic '42'

Jackie Robinson will be played by 'The Express' actor Chadwick Boseman. Robinson is famous as the first African-American player to b...

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