The 1981 film “Chariots of Fire” directed by Hugh Hudson and written by Colin Welland, won 4 Oscars at the 1982 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Original Music Score for an impressively epic soundtrack from Vangelis, who would go on to score “Blade Runner” a year later. Revolving around the lives of Scottish Olympian Eric Liddell, played by Ian Charleston, and British athlete Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), the movie tells the tale of their rivalry that culminates in a competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Now, “The Last Race” is being made, a film that concerns itself with the latter half of Liddell’s life post-’Chariots,’ as he travels back to China to become a teacher and missionary, in case you wanted to see that part of Liddell’s story on the big screen. China was also Liddell’s birthplace as well as his place of death, where he died of a brain tumor in an internment camp during the Japanese WWII occupation of the country. Joseph Fiennes stars as Liddell in this Chinese production, which is being helmed by established Hong Kong director and producer Stephen Shin (“Black Cat,” “Easy Money,” “The Perfect Match”), based off a script by Michael Parker. The film also stars Chinese-Canadian actor Shawn Dou ("Wolf Totem", "Under the Hawthorn Tree") as Liddell’s friend Xu Niu as well as British actress Elizabeth Arends and Jesse Kove.
No word yet on whether or not Vangelis will return to provide the score. This may be unlikely, however, as ‘The Last Race’ appears to be a sequel of the “unofficial” variety. However, you can enjoy the iconic theme to the original 1981 film set to a montage of the film’s more memorable moments below.
