Fox Sports Films' Tells Story of Samoan Tua Tagovailoa

08.13.2020

Samoan football star Tua Tagovailoa led the 's famed Crimson Tide football team to back-to-back National Championships in 2017 and 2018 and was named MVP in 2017. In 2018, he won the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards and was named a finalist for the .

In 2019, just before he planned to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, he dislocated his hip during a game. But instead of giving up, he went back to work and this spring, the quarterback who plays left-handed (even though he's really right-handed) went to the as the fifth pick in the overall draft.

Fox Sports Films' Tua tells the story of the Hawaiian football star, from his upbringing and training through his college days at Alabama to the day he was drafted into the NFL, making his grandfather's prophecy come true.

"I'm excited about this film for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it represents the deep love and appreciation that I have for my culture, my faith and, more importantly, my family," said Tagovailoa in a statement. "I am extremely proud of this project and the efforts it took to get here. I look forward to sharing it with everyone." "Tua is a beloved young star with an incredible story," said Charlie Dixon, executive vice president of content, Fox Sports, also in a statement. "We like to say, 'Fox is Football', and since it's in our DNA, that means providing the deepest insight into the sport both on and off the field. The film's level of access and pure emotion provides a new level of appreciation for Tua's journey."  Â

As an extension of the project, Fox Sports Supports is partnering with Good Sports' "Restore Play" initiative, focused on youth's return to sports as communities face COVID-19. The organizations are donating $111,111 worth of brand-new playground equipment to Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Ewa Beach, ; Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and Miami in honor of Tua's new Miami Dolphins jersey number: 1.

Tua is directed by Mitchell Hooper of Malka Media. Its executive producers are Scotty McKnight, executive at Goat Farm Media, Louis Krubich, founder and CEO of Malka Media and Ryan Williams, partner at Athletes First. Nick Brown of Malka Media serves as a producer.

The film is the seventh in a series of Fox Sports' Magnify series that launched in November 2017 with the intention of bringing a "deep focus to untold sports stories that spark cultural conversation. Other films in the series include 89 Blocks, Shot in the Dark, Nossa Chape, They Fight, Q Ball and The Great Brady Heist.Â

Tua premieres Sunday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. ET on Fox and launches early on the new Fox Sports app on Monday, Aug. 24, along with an exclusive, complementary eight-episode digital-only series, Tua Talks.