Ramla Ali Biopic Premieres With Top Boy Star

Olympic boxer Ramla Ali's life story reached the big screen this week with the premiere of In the Shadows, a biopic directed by Anthony Wonke and starring Top Boy's Jasmine Jobson, according to The Guardian.

The film traces Ali's path from fleeing the Somali civil war as a child to becoming the first boxer ever to represent Somalia at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She became the first Muslim woman to win an English amateur boxing title in 2015 and now serves as a Unicef ambassador while running Sisters Club, a charity offering free boxing classes to vulnerable women.

Ali's Mother Insisted Brother's Death Be Shown

Ali worked closely on the production, reading every script draft and appearing on set throughout the shoot. Her mother, who has watched the finished film four times, pushed for one scene in particular to stay. "My mum was adamant that the scene when my brother got killed be included," Ali told The Guardian. Her older brother Abdulkadir died in an explosion while playing, an event that set the family's escape from Somalia in motion.

The project was initially pitched in 2018 when Ali and her husband Richard Moore, who also served as an executive producer, were broke. "We were down to our last hundred quid," Moore said, per The Guardian. The couple stayed with actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina during that period.

Letitia Wright was originally attached to play Ali before Jobson took over the role. Jobson arrived at a recent BFI Southbank event in Louboutin heels but said she has not kept up with boxing training since filming wrapped, focusing instead on physio for an old shoulder injury from her days training as a personal trainer.

Ali described the film as depicting a human story rather than making a political statement, though she acknowledged it offers a different view of migration. She is already moving beyond boxing, having written and directed a comedy film with Moore called Not Like Us while exploring acting opportunities focused on the Black British experience.

Source: theguardian.com