Game Of Thrones’ Melisandre will play Leni Riefenstahl in a Jesse Owens biopic

By William Hughes | September 30, 2014 | 4:09pm

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Actress Carice van Houten, best known in the U.S. for her role as enigmatic fire priestess Melisandre on HBO’s Game Of Thrones, has been cast as controversial German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in an upcoming Jesse Owens biopic. Race, one of several planned films about the famous athlete, will star Stephan James as Owens, along with Jeremy Irons and Jason Sudeikis in supporting roles. Van Houten’s Riefenstahl will presumably appear as Hitler’s hand-picked documentarian for the 1936 Olympic Games, where Owens famously captured national attention by dominating men’s track and field with four gold-medal performances.

Riefenstahl, whose most famous film is the propaganda hallmark The Triumph Of The Will, was a controversial figure both during and after the Second World War, thanks to her association with Hitler and the Third Reich—as well as her ability to give birth to magical shadow assassin demon babies. (Although she’s often praised by scholars of baby murder shadows for her technical expertise and innovative contributions to the form.)