<p> Two-time Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali will be essaying the role of American boxing legend Jack Johnson in an upcoming limited series from HBO.</p>.<p>Titled <em>Unruly</em>, the series is based on Ken Burns' PBS documentary <em>Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson </em>and Geoffrey C. Ward's companion book, reported <em>Deadline</em>.</p>.<p>The project, which will have six episodes, hails from Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone and will be written by Dominique Morisseau.</p>.<p><em>Unruly </em>has been described as an unapologetically Black, no-holds-barred telling of Johnson (Ali), the world’s first Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion.</p>.<p>Jackson, who had earned the nickname "Galveston Giant", became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915) at the height of the Jim Crow era. His 1910 fight against James J Jeffries was dubbed as the "fight of the century".</p>.<p>The series will chart the champion's rise to athletic greatness and the costs he paid for his skin and defiance, which created a blueprint for Black resistance in every justice movement for generations to come.</p>.<p>Ali, 46, had previously played Johnson in a stage production of <em>The Great White Hope</em> in 2000. He had expressed time and again that playing Johnson on screen is his "dream role".</p>.<p>In addition to starring in the series, Ali will also executive produce the project through his Know Wonder banner, alongside Hanks, Goetzman, Burns and Morisseau.</p>.<p>The actor is best known for starring in movies such as Barry Jenkins' <em>Moonlight </em>and <em>Green Book</em>, which earned him the best supporting actor trophies at the Oscars in 2017 and 2019.</p>
<p> Two-time Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali will be essaying the role of American boxing legend Jack Johnson in an upcoming limited series from HBO.</p>.<p>Titled <em>Unruly</em>, the series is based on Ken Burns' PBS documentary <em>Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson </em>and Geoffrey C. Ward's companion book, reported <em>Deadline</em>.</p>.<p>The project, which will have six episodes, hails from Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone and will be written by Dominique Morisseau.</p>.<p><em>Unruly </em>has been described as an unapologetically Black, no-holds-barred telling of Johnson (Ali), the world’s first Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion.</p>.<p>Jackson, who had earned the nickname "Galveston Giant", became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915) at the height of the Jim Crow era. His 1910 fight against James J Jeffries was dubbed as the "fight of the century".</p>.<p>The series will chart the champion's rise to athletic greatness and the costs he paid for his skin and defiance, which created a blueprint for Black resistance in every justice movement for generations to come.</p>.<p>Ali, 46, had previously played Johnson in a stage production of <em>The Great White Hope</em> in 2000. He had expressed time and again that playing Johnson on screen is his "dream role".</p>.<p>In addition to starring in the series, Ali will also executive produce the project through his Know Wonder banner, alongside Hanks, Goetzman, Burns and Morisseau.</p>.<p>The actor is best known for starring in movies such as Barry Jenkins' <em>Moonlight </em>and <em>Green Book</em>, which earned him the best supporting actor trophies at the Oscars in 2017 and 2019.</p>