Rio de Janiero, Brazil will be the backdrop for the upcoming film about the life of soccer legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele. Pele is a U.S. production in English, and will be a coming-of-age story that will chronicle Pele's life from his childhood in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil to his rise as a champion and victor in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden as the youngest player to play in a World Cup final match at the age of 17.

The search for two young actors to play the now 72-year-old Pele at the ages of 10-years-old and 17-years-old spanned three continents. Producers sought actors who physically resembled Pele, who could kick around a soccer ball, and who could converse in English. After a long search, producers found who they were looking for just outside of Rio de Janeiro.

Leonardo Carvalho was cast to play Young Pele, and Kevin de Paula, member of a local football club in Rio, was cast to play Pele as an adolescent. Felipe Simas, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro and Seu Jorge will also act in the film; and, Jeff and Michael Zimbalist wrote and will direct the biopic that is currently in production. Pele will be backed by Imagine Entertainment and Seine Pictures. Pele himself is serving as an executive producer of the film, as well as Imagine's Brian Grazer, Ivan Orlic, KimRoth and Dany Wolf. The stadium of the Brazilian soccer club America will appear in the film after movie-makers worked tirelessly to reproduce the Swedish stadium where Pele led the Brazilian team to their first World Cup.

"For me Pele is not just a soccer player. He's a model of behavior. His life has inspired so many and now he'll be back to inspire a new generation." the film's producer, Ivan Orlic, said. "From the first time we met, he [was] such a warm person and his smile is so contagious, but he didn't have any restrictions that changed our plans, you know. He's a role model's role model. Where, as an athlete, he was not just dedicated and talented, but also refrained from bad habits, and I think it is a great role model for kids."

The film is expected to be released in May of 2014, just before Brazil is to become the 2014 World Cup host, which would mean that the country would hold the honor for a record six times.