A cclaimed Canadian filmmaker Clement Virgo is set to direct a feature about late legendary U.S. bicycle racer Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor, with Kevin Dewalt at Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment as producer.

U.S. writer Robert Eisele (The Great Debaters) penned the script for Black Cyclone, inspired by Michael Kranish’s book The World’s Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America’s First Black Sports Hero.

Set in the late 1890s and early 1900s, the drama details how “Major” Taylor confronted racism to become a world champion cyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era, and the troubled alliances he faced with a Black trainer and a white promoter.

Production is set to begin in 2022, with the storyline taking place in Montreal, France and the U.S.

The film is being set up as an EU/Canada treaty co-production, with a budget of over $25 million.

Chris Kirkman, Rashid Bahati, Eric Mika and Natasha Semone Vassell will serve as executive producers.

Consultants include Rahsaan Bahati, a 10-time U.S. pro champion cyclist, and three-time U.S. Olympic cyclist John Howard, who is also an executive producer on the film.

Distribution is handled by Minds Eye, a production studio behind more than 60 film and TV projects, including the recently released Lionsgate action-thriller Dangerous starring Scott Eastwood, Kevin Durand, Tyrese Gibson, Famke Janssen and Mel Gibson.

Previous projects from Virgo (pictured) include a Canadian Screen Award-winning, six-part miniseries adaptation of Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes, as well as the Netflix drama The Get Down and the features Poor Boy’s Game, Lie With Me and Rude.

Photo Credit: Sam Santos/George Pimentel Photography