--- title: Jesse Owens Biopic Race: The Story Behind the Movie description: An exclusive video tells the story behind "Race," Stephen Hopkins' biopic about Olympian Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. canonical: https://time.com/4210347/race-jesse-owens-biopic/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-09T21:42:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:27.567Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Here's the True Story Behind the Jesse Owens Biopic 'Race' og:description: An exclusive video tells the story behind "Race," Stephen Hopkins' biopic about Olympian Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. og:url: https://time.com/4210347/race-jesse-owens-biopic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd92eec3c1091425d/69887c60524fc09049df69ef/stephan-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2955 og:image:height: 1662 og:image:alt: Stephan James attends the Washington, DC premiere of "Race" on February 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the True Story Behind the Jesse Owens Biopic 'Race' twitter:description: An exclusive video tells the story behind "Race," Stephen Hopkins' biopic about Olympian Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd92eec3c1091425d/69887c60524fc09049df69ef/stephan-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the True Story Behind the Jesse Owens Biopic _Race_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Feb 9, 2016 9:42 PM UTC  Stephan James attends the Washington, DC premiere of "Race" on February 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. Stephan James attends the Washington, DC premiere of "Race" on February 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. Teresa Kroeger--WireImage  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Feb 9, 2016 9:42 PM UTC Many men and women have taken home gold medals from the Olympic Games, but few have done so under the kind of pressure Jesse Owens faced in the summer of 1936\. In _Race_, out Feb. 19, Stephan James plays Owens in the lead-up to that competition, as broader political forces—the rise of Hitler’s Nazi regime and the United States’ deliberations over how to respond to it—call into question whether he will be afforded a shot at all but certain victory. In this featurette, James, director Stephen Hopkins, co-star Jeremy Irons and Owens’ real-life daughters discuss the contributions of the track star, whose significance transcends his great feats of athleticism. “Around the time where he was contemplating going to the Olympics, he had a lot of people pulling him from both sides,” explains James, referring to the NAACP’s request that Owens boycott the Games to send a message about Hitler’s policies toward Jews and people of color. Owens’ ultimate decision is no secret to history: He set three world records and tied another in less than an hour in Berlin, taking home four gold medals. But in _Race_, the considerations that went into his decision to compete at all—whether to speak volumes with his absence or with total athletic domination—are what give the movie legs. ### See the Controversial Drama of Adolf Hitler’s 1936 Summer Olympics  Five young women take part in a display of the Olympic Rings at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Popperfoto—Getty Images  Beginning of the eleventh Olympic Games. Aug. 1,1936. Imagno—Getty Images  USA's legendary Jesse Owens on his way to winning one of his four gold medals, in the men's 100 meter final at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Popperfoto—Getty Images  The 13-year-old springboard diver Marjorie Gestring at the Olympic Games in Berlin. Aug. 12, 1936. Austrian Archives/Imagno—Getty Images  A German technician checks the Television canon put in the Olympic Stadium, Aug. 1, 1936\. The huge electronic camera build by Telefunken broadcast live for the first time, 8 hours each day, the Berlin Olympics Games show. CORR/AFP—Getty Images  Jesse Owens and Helen Stephens at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 Photo 12/UIG—Getty Images  Gisela Mauermayer, of Germany, winner of the gold medal in the Discus event at the 1936 Olympic Games. Bob Thomas/Popperfoto—Getty Images  Dr. Joseph Goebbels, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Reichs Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten and Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg observe the Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany in August 1936. AP Photo  Winner of the men's javelin throw event at the Summer Olympic Games, German athlete Gerhard Stoeck. in action on Aug. 6, 1936 in Berlin AP Photo  The Women's 80 Meter Hurdles at the 1936 Olympic Games, in Berlin Popperfoto—Getty Images  The Racing Cyclists Robert Charpentier, Guy Lapebie, Jean Goujon and Roger Le Nizerhy just after having won at the Olympic Games in Berlin in August 1936. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images  Basketball action between the Philippines and Mexico at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Popperfoto—Getty Images  The German female javelin throwers Tilly Fleischer (Gold Medal) and Luis Kruger (Silver Medal) with Polish bronze-medalist Marja Kwasniewska, on the podium at the Olympic Games In Berlin on Aug. 2, 1936. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images  Germany's Tilly Fleischer, who won the gold medal in women's javelin, at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Popperfoto—Getty Images  Olympic broad jump medalists salute during the medals ceremony at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. From left on podium are: bronze medalist Jajima of Japan, gold medalist Jesse Owens of the United States and silver medalist Lutz Long of Germany. Aug. 11, 1936. AP Photo  Olympic winner Gustav 'Gummi' Schaefer, German rower, with the laurel wreath during the Summer Olympics in Berlin-Grünau in August 1936. Schirner Sportfoto/picture-alliance/dpa—AP Photo  A stonemason at work records the feat of USA's Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals in the Games, in 1936 in Berlin Popperfoto—Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4210347/race-jesse-owens-biopic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4210347/race-jesse-owens-biopic/"},"headline":"Here's the True Story Behind the Jesse Owens Biopic Race","datePublished":"2016-02-09T21:42:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:27.567Z","description":"Stephan James plays the Olympic gold medalist in a new film out Feb. 19","url":"https://time.com/4210347/race-jesse-owens-biopic/","keywords":["movies","Race","True Story Behind"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd92eec3c1091425d/69887c60524fc09049df69ef/stephan-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd92eec3c1091425d/69887c60524fc09049df69ef/stephan-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stephan James attends the Washington, DC premiere of \"Race\" on February 3, 2016 in Washington, DC.","caption":"Stephan James attends the Washington, DC premiere of \"Race\" on February 3, 2016 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Teresa Kroeger--WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4210347/race-jesse-owens-biopic/","name":"Here's the True Story Behind the Jesse Owens Biopic Race"}}]}] ```