The film rights have now been secured for the Rickson Gracie book, ‘Breathe: A Life In Flow’, meaning that a film based on his life is now in production. There are a number of BJJ films out there and this would actually be the second one involving Rickson, as the biopic ‘Choke’ is one of the most famous in the sport’s history. It’s no surprise that his life would be a topic of interest of course, as he is one of the biggest Jiu-Jitsu legends and is well-respected as both an instructor and a competitor. Although his athletic peak predated the rise of modern BJJ and MMA, he still found ways to test himself throughout his life.
He famously competed in Sambo tournaments and even won titles in the sport, looking for any avenue to test his grappling skills. Rickson had high-profile grappling matches against other big names from his era and also had a career in Vale Tudo long before MMA was even a formal sport. He had a pair of legendary matches with Rei Zulu in the 1980s and eventually decided to compete in formal MMA fights when the sport emerged around a decade later. Rickson won two Vale Tudo Japan tournaments and submitted six men in the process, including fellow MMA legend Yuki Nakai.
Rickson Gracie had many fights in his life and only a handful of them were ever recorded on film, but fans did eventually get to see him compete for a major MMA promotion in 1997. Despite being 37 at the time, Rickson made his PRIDE debut and beat Nobuhiko Takada before returning the following year to beat him again in a rematch. Rickson won one final fight against Masakatsu Funaki at the age of 40, and finished his MMA career undefeated. He chose to retire from combat sports altogether shortly after that fight when his son, Rockson Gracie, passed away at a young age.
This is the time period covered by his book, from his earliest fights on the streets in the 1970s all the way up to that final fight in 2000. The film rights to the Rickson Gracie memoir have now been acquired by FutureIII Entertainment, a company headed by Michael P. J. Gerstein, Brad Wyman, and filmmaker Adam Rifkin. It’s unclear exactly when the film will be released as it it’s still very early days at the moment, with FutureIII currently making the choice as to who will write and direct the film before looking at casting. Rickson himself actually spoke to Deadline to reveal how much he was looking forward to the film:
“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. That’s my ultimate hope and goal for this project.”
