William Hurt has joined the cast of Focus Features' Jesse Owens biopic Race, with the studio also setting an April 8, 2016 release date. The drama will be going up against Universal Pictures' Clifford the Big Red Dog in April 2016.

Stephan James stars as legendary track star Jesse Owens, who won a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, making him one of the greatest track athletes in the world, at the same time Adolf Hitler was trying to create a perfect Aryan race for Germany. William Hurt is playing Jeremiah Maroney, the Amateur Athletic Union president who spearheaded a movement to boycott the 1936 Olympics. Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten and Amanda Crew also star.

Stephen Hopkins is directing from a screenplay by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel, with production already under way in Montreal. The biopic will also shoot in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, where Jesse Owens made Olympic history. This film has the full support of Jesse Owens family, along with the Jesse Owens Foundation, the Jesse Owens Trust, and the Luminary Group.

William Hurt most recently starred in Winter's Tale and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.