What fighter would you like to see a movie based on?
Got this from one of the boxing sites.
Save Me, Joe Louis!
Whispers about a Lee-Schulberg biopic about Louis have been heard for a while now. Several years ago, boxing scribe Bert Randolph Sugar and novelist and screenwriter/novelist Schulberg developed the story, which focuses on Louis’s fights with Max Schmeling. Two years after losing his first bout with Schmeling, Louis won the 1938 rematch with a first-round knockout. Louis reigned as heavyweight champion from 1937 until 1949, when he announced his first retirement, and ultimately compiled a record of 68 wins and 3 losses.
The Times (U.K.) last week carried Schulberg’s account of the project’s genesis and current status, in which he describes how he attended a pre-fight HBO dinner at Madison Square Garden, where he sat with Sugar and met Lee for the first time. “Somehow we found ourselves talking about Louis, and how a feature film had never been done about his unique contribution to boxing and American history. His second fight with Max Schmeling on the eve of the Second World War had been nothing less than a harbinger of the looming conflict….” He goes on to recount how later on Sugar wrote some ideas down that Schulberg further developed and tentatively titled “The War to Come: The Joe Louis-Max Schmeling Story.” The title subsequently changed to “Save Me, Joe Louis!” to recall the last words of a young black man immediately before being executed.
“A day after I sent the film treatment to Lee,” Schulberg continues, “he phoned with a three-word response: ‘I love it!’ We were off to the races, if you could call a process that has taken four years and is still not consummated, a race.”
The Times piece explains some of the reasons for the delay in completing the film. Both Schulberg and Lee are committed to extensive research, which is time consuming. Lee also prepared a script, and the two are trying to merge their overlapping efforts. Finally, and most crucially, the film needs financial backing. Schulberg estimates that making “Save Me, Joe Louis” will take $80 million, which is much higher than Lee’s typical budget.
Schulberg does not address speculation about who will portray the former heavyweight champion. Earlier this year, it was rumored that Lee, after pursuing Samuel L. Jackson and Danny Glover, wanted Vin Diesel to portray Louis. The New York Daily News last month reported that the director, writers and actor met to discuss the project. Schulberg expressed some concern about the casting choice, noting that Diesel doesn’t look much like the heavyweight great. But he said, “I came away impressed with his knowledge of Joe Louis. He’s got the intellect, and he’s done some boxing.” Sugar said, “It looks like it will happen with Vin.”
Schulberg does respond to those were taken aback at the idea his collaboration with the maker of “Do the Right Thing” and other controversial films. “Schulberg, the white, octogenarian, novelist-filmwriter and Lee, the fortyish, angry and race-conscious film-maker? How could those disparate figures ever get together? The answer is, easy. Different generation, different pigmentation, yes. But with more in common, in terms of interests and attitudes, than anyone might imagine. We’re both in favor of films with underlying progressive themes. We’re both anti-Hollywood establishment and devoted to film-making in the more independent East; we’re both sports nuts and fascinated with boxing. And, I may add only half-facetiously, we’re both pro-black.”
Schulberg’s has written about boxing for decades. He penned the classics “The Harder They Fall” and “On the Waterfront,” both of which were made into films in the 1950s. Prior to the meeting with Sugar and Lee at MSG, he had written and co-produced a documentary called “Joe Louis: For All Time.” Jack Newfield, the author of “Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King,” recently called Schulberg one of “the three best American writers about boxing” – along with Norman Mailer and A.J. Liebling.
The Cinderella Man
Lee and Schulberg’s take on Louis – if completed – will be one of several forthcoming boxing-related films. Russell Crowe will portray former heavyweight champion Jim Braddock in a movie that takes its title from the fighter’s nickname, “The Cinderella Man.” Ron Howard directed the film, which began filming earlier this year and co-stars Renee Zellweger as Braddock’s wife. Braddock became the world heavyweight champion by beating Max Baer in 1935. He subsequently lost to Louis.
Unforgivable Blackness
Ken Burns has completed a four-hour documentary called “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” which has been shown at several film festivals and is scheduled to air on public television in January 2005. Johnson became heavyweight champion in 1908 after beating Tommy Burns in Australia. He subsequently won against the likes of Stanley Ketchel and Jim Jeffries. He lost the title to Jess Willard in 1915. He fought, and won, two fights in one day. He retired and returned to the ring several times, with his last fight occurring in 1938, when he was 60 years old. He fought at least 128 times, including 91 wins (with 51 via knockout), 14 losses, and 12 draws.
But Johnson’s story, like Louis’s, is about more than boxing. The first black heavyweight champion endured racist persecution. He fled the United States and spent several years in exile. After returning, he spent a year in prison for violating the since-discredited Mann Act, which made it a federal offence to transport women across state lines “for immoral purposes.” As an article in today’s Irish Times puts it, “he refused to conduct himself as society demanded of a black man. His defiance was one protracted declaration of personal freedom.” (Senator and boxing fan John McCain has introduced legislation calling for a posthumous pardon for Johnson.)
As the filmmaker Burns puts it, “First of all it’s a story of athletic accomplishment. Then there’s the question of race. There probably wouldn’t be a story of Jack Johnson had he been a white man. And finally there’s the matter of sex: as a nation we’re preoccupied with a curious combination of puritanical values and prurient interests, and both come into play with Johnson. He was the most intriguing figure of his age – or, perhaps, of any age.”
“Unforgivable Blackness” features footage of Johnson’s 1910 victory over Jeffries and his 1912 defense against Jim Flynn.
Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood plans to make a boxing movie based on the writing of a cut man and trainer who called himself F.X. Toole. The director, most recently, of “Mystic River” will not only direct “Million Dollar Baby”; he will also produce and star in the film, an adaptation of two short stories from “Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner.”
The book is a collection of tales by Geraldum (Jerry) Boyd, who created the pen name F.X. Toole by combining the names of the 16th century Jesuit Francis Xavier and the actor Peter O’Toole. In “Rope Burns,” which was first published in 2000, “Million $$$ Baby” tells the story of a woman committed to becoming fighter and who ends up severely injured. Boyd worked out of the L.A. Boxing Club. He died in 2002.
Save Me, Joe Louis!
Whispers about a Lee-Schulberg biopic about Louis have been heard for a while now. Several years ago, boxing scribe Bert Randolph Sugar and novelist and screenwriter/novelist Schulberg developed the story, which focuses on Louis’s fights with Max Schmeling. Two years after losing his first bout with Schmeling, Louis won the 1938 rematch with a first-round knockout. Louis reigned as heavyweight champion from 1937 until 1949, when he announced his first retirement, and ultimately compiled a record of 68 wins and 3 losses.
The Times (U.K.) last week carried Schulberg’s account of the project’s genesis and current status, in which he describes how he attended a pre-fight HBO dinner at Madison Square Garden, where he sat with Sugar and met Lee for the first time. “Somehow we found ourselves talking about Louis, and how a feature film had never been done about his unique contribution to boxing and American history. His second fight with Max Schmeling on the eve of the Second World War had been nothing less than a harbinger of the looming conflict….” He goes on to recount how later on Sugar wrote some ideas down that Schulberg further developed and tentatively titled “The War to Come: The Joe Louis-Max Schmeling Story.” The title subsequently changed to “Save Me, Joe Louis!” to recall the last words of a young black man immediately before being executed.
“A day after I sent the film treatment to Lee,” Schulberg continues, “he phoned with a three-word response: ‘I love it!’ We were off to the races, if you could call a process that has taken four years and is still not consummated, a race.”
The Times piece explains some of the reasons for the delay in completing the film. Both Schulberg and Lee are committed to extensive research, which is time consuming. Lee also prepared a script, and the two are trying to merge their overlapping efforts. Finally, and most crucially, the film needs financial backing. Schulberg estimates that making “Save Me, Joe Louis” will take $80 million, which is much higher than Lee’s typical budget.
Schulberg does not address speculation about who will portray the former heavyweight champion. Earlier this year, it was rumored that Lee, after pursuing Samuel L. Jackson and Danny Glover, wanted Vin Diesel to portray Louis. The New York Daily News last month reported that the director, writers and actor met to discuss the project. Schulberg expressed some concern about the casting choice, noting that Diesel doesn’t look much like the heavyweight great. But he said, “I came away impressed with his knowledge of Joe Louis. He’s got the intellect, and he’s done some boxing.” Sugar said, “It looks like it will happen with Vin.”
Schulberg does respond to those were taken aback at the idea his collaboration with the maker of “Do the Right Thing” and other controversial films. “Schulberg, the white, octogenarian, novelist-filmwriter and Lee, the fortyish, angry and race-conscious film-maker? How could those disparate figures ever get together? The answer is, easy. Different generation, different pigmentation, yes. But with more in common, in terms of interests and attitudes, than anyone might imagine. We’re both in favor of films with underlying progressive themes. We’re both anti-Hollywood establishment and devoted to film-making in the more independent East; we’re both sports nuts and fascinated with boxing. And, I may add only half-facetiously, we’re both pro-black.”
Schulberg’s has written about boxing for decades. He penned the classics “The Harder They Fall” and “On the Waterfront,” both of which were made into films in the 1950s. Prior to the meeting with Sugar and Lee at MSG, he had written and co-produced a documentary called “Joe Louis: For All Time.” Jack Newfield, the author of “Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King,” recently called Schulberg one of “the three best American writers about boxing” – along with Norman Mailer and A.J. Liebling.
The Cinderella Man
Lee and Schulberg’s take on Louis – if completed – will be one of several forthcoming boxing-related films. Russell Crowe will portray former heavyweight champion Jim Braddock in a movie that takes its title from the fighter’s nickname, “The Cinderella Man.” Ron Howard directed the film, which began filming earlier this year and co-stars Renee Zellweger as Braddock’s wife. Braddock became the world heavyweight champion by beating Max Baer in 1935. He subsequently lost to Louis.
Unforgivable Blackness
Ken Burns has completed a four-hour documentary called “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” which has been shown at several film festivals and is scheduled to air on public television in January 2005. Johnson became heavyweight champion in 1908 after beating Tommy Burns in Australia. He subsequently won against the likes of Stanley Ketchel and Jim Jeffries. He lost the title to Jess Willard in 1915. He fought, and won, two fights in one day. He retired and returned to the ring several times, with his last fight occurring in 1938, when he was 60 years old. He fought at least 128 times, including 91 wins (with 51 via knockout), 14 losses, and 12 draws.
But Johnson’s story, like Louis’s, is about more than boxing. The first black heavyweight champion endured racist persecution. He fled the United States and spent several years in exile. After returning, he spent a year in prison for violating the since-discredited Mann Act, which made it a federal offence to transport women across state lines “for immoral purposes.” As an article in today’s Irish Times puts it, “he refused to conduct himself as society demanded of a black man. His defiance was one protracted declaration of personal freedom.” (Senator and boxing fan John McCain has introduced legislation calling for a posthumous pardon for Johnson.)
As the filmmaker Burns puts it, “First of all it’s a story of athletic accomplishment. Then there’s the question of race. There probably wouldn’t be a story of Jack Johnson had he been a white man. And finally there’s the matter of sex: as a nation we’re preoccupied with a curious combination of puritanical values and prurient interests, and both come into play with Johnson. He was the most intriguing figure of his age – or, perhaps, of any age.”
“Unforgivable Blackness” features footage of Johnson’s 1910 victory over Jeffries and his 1912 defense against Jim Flynn.
Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood plans to make a boxing movie based on the writing of a cut man and trainer who called himself F.X. Toole. The director, most recently, of “Mystic River” will not only direct “Million Dollar Baby”; he will also produce and star in the film, an adaptation of two short stories from “Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner.”
The book is a collection of tales by Geraldum (Jerry) Boyd, who created the pen name F.X. Toole by combining the names of the 16th century Jesuit Francis Xavier and the actor Peter O’Toole. In “Rope Burns,” which was first published in 2000, “Million $$$ Baby” tells the story of a woman committed to becoming fighter and who ends up severely injured. Boyd worked out of the L.A. Boxing Club. He died in 2002.
70's middleweight contender John L(ee) Sullivan.
He was 22-0 when he fought a title elimination bout with Vito Antuofermo at Madison Square Garden.
He had a crowd pleasing style and was very popular in the Pacific Northwest.
The reason for a movie...he fought hard and lived life fast until it caught up with him and he took a tough fall.
Now he writes stories and plays that he performs in jails and prisons and is on a speaking circuit offering his own story to encourge hope and renewal....He also spends part of each year raising donations of goods that he transports to the needy in Mexico.
From tough guy to one with a giving heart....he didn't quit in the ring and when life got him down he didn't give up but fought back and is now a true champion.
He was 22-0 when he fought a title elimination bout with Vito Antuofermo at Madison Square Garden.
He had a crowd pleasing style and was very popular in the Pacific Northwest.
The reason for a movie...he fought hard and lived life fast until it caught up with him and he took a tough fall.
Now he writes stories and plays that he performs in jails and prisons and is on a speaking circuit offering his own story to encourge hope and renewal....He also spends part of each year raising donations of goods that he transports to the needy in Mexico.
From tough guy to one with a giving heart....he didn't quit in the ring and when life got him down he didn't give up but fought back and is now a true champion.
I think that a life story on Stanley Ketchel who was middleweight champion, had knocked out the light heavyweight champion, and challenged for the heavyweight title all by the age of 24 before he was shot in the back and died would be a stroy worth telling. He also usto hang with the Clantons I think their name was, the ones that had the shoot out with the Earps at the O.K. corral, or was it the Earps he hung with, either or makes for fantastic story telling. He was around at the end of the wild west and was a celebrity of his era. 
cheers M.O.
cheers M.O.
As much as I like Hearns I'm afraid a movie about him or any other great in recent years would just not work... Ali's movie is proof of this (though Will Smith was a bad choice, for my money), these known greats unfortunately have been done to death!!!
There is only one period in boxing (the 30s, 40s & early 50s) that has overall great appeal and only 2 fighters that really deserve the recognition, Charley Burley and the Charley Burley of the UK, Bert Gilroy...
Charley Burley the most avoided fighter in America, who's list of opponents is a Who's Who of boxing greats, yet never was given a title fight and likewise Bert Gilroy in Britain who was Britain's most feared fighter 1938-49, a middleweight cum light-heavy 'forced' to fight the Bigmen because he was, like Burley, Frozen-Out of the title at his own weight though No.1 and 'favorite' to beat both Jock McAvoy and Freddie Mills.
This the 'single' greatest period in boxing history and these two great fighters because of their ability and the very real possiblity that if given their 'rightful' chances WOULD have re-written boxing history...
Yet all-the-more because they were denied and even 'cheated' out of their chance, there is greater opportunity to look more deeply into the lives of these men, their feelings and heartache as well as the people behind them and the great Champions whom they pursued, and for years!
These are the facts that make great Human Interest stories where both Burley and Gilroy automatically become the hero and the boxing powers and even the Champs become the 'enemy' or are seen in a new light!
Charley Burley USA or Bert Gilroy - the "Thistle in the Rose!"
See you at the 'movies', Jim.
There is only one period in boxing (the 30s, 40s & early 50s) that has overall great appeal and only 2 fighters that really deserve the recognition, Charley Burley and the Charley Burley of the UK, Bert Gilroy...
Charley Burley the most avoided fighter in America, who's list of opponents is a Who's Who of boxing greats, yet never was given a title fight and likewise Bert Gilroy in Britain who was Britain's most feared fighter 1938-49, a middleweight cum light-heavy 'forced' to fight the Bigmen because he was, like Burley, Frozen-Out of the title at his own weight though No.1 and 'favorite' to beat both Jock McAvoy and Freddie Mills.
This the 'single' greatest period in boxing history and these two great fighters because of their ability and the very real possiblity that if given their 'rightful' chances WOULD have re-written boxing history...
Yet all-the-more because they were denied and even 'cheated' out of their chance, there is greater opportunity to look more deeply into the lives of these men, their feelings and heartache as well as the people behind them and the great Champions whom they pursued, and for years!
These are the facts that make great Human Interest stories where both Burley and Gilroy automatically become the hero and the boxing powers and even the Champs become the 'enemy' or are seen in a new light!
Charley Burley USA or Bert Gilroy - the "Thistle in the Rose!"
See you at the 'movies', Jim.
-
no1southpaw
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 31
- Joined: 03 Oct 2004, 06:47
mvie about a boxer
RANDOLPH TURPIN THE LEAMINGTON LICKER
Turpin movie
That would be a great film, but probably a little dark.
-
semisports
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 19
- Joined: 26 Jan 2005, 22:47
I understand that there is talk about making a movie about him. Don't know when it hits the screen though.actjac wrote:70's middleweight contender John L(ee) Sullivan.
He was 22-0 when he fought a title elimination bout with Vito Antuofermo at Madison Square Garden.
He had a crowd pleasing style and was very popular in the Pacific Northwest.
The reason for a movie...he fought hard and lived life fast until it caught up with him and he took a tough fall.
Now he writes stories and plays that he performs in jails and prisons and is on a speaking circuit offering his own story to encourge hope and renewal....He also spends part of each year raising donations of goods that he transports to the needy in Mexico.
From tough guy to one with a giving heart....he didn't quit in the ring and when life got him down he didn't give up but fought back and is now a true champion.
-
boxingdvduk
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 72
- Joined: 26 Jan 2005, 08:28
-
Onekrazyrican
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 09 Sep 2003, 13:18
Ide luv to see one about Edwin Rosario he started out pretty young lambasting the competition then reached his peak after his "loss" to camachi followed by his destruction of Bramble but sucsess ended up being his worst enemy, by the time he fought Chavez he was allready hitting the streets went downhill from then on but still managed to blast loreto garza which brought him back. Took 2 surprising beatings with Randall showing him the door out of the ring thats when hi hit rock bottom where he stayed for a couple of years. Made a miraculous comeback both in and out of the ring after getting cleaned up. He was highly motivated about life at first till he got ht by reality, got his ass beat by Roger Flores at his homwtown being floored for the first time in his career. Got the W but he knew he was far from what he used to be and got really sad. His death was a surprise to lotz of people after being clean for so long while racking up a couple of kos he died from an overdose most people say it was a suicide but i guess only Chapo knows the truth. People from where he lived remember him as a happy man even when he was hooked up but there are real sad stories from those times. I was told he even took one of his belts to get drugs since he was out of money. After that they would often give it to him for free just to see him happy. El Chapo was fun to talk to and many people only know him as the ko artist who got pounded by Chavez.
For those spanish speakers go check the Chavez fight i cant remember which round but his cornerman was mad at him cuz he kept brawling with chavez. Chapo would stay in the corner going toe to toe despite the beating he was taking. so in the corner when his cornerman told him once again about getting out of the corner he got mad and told him "quit telling me about the corners ok" u could tell he wasnt going to follow anyones instructions he was fighting mad and getting his ass whooped real bad.
For those spanish speakers go check the Chavez fight i cant remember which round but his cornerman was mad at him cuz he kept brawling with chavez. Chapo would stay in the corner going toe to toe despite the beating he was taking. so in the corner when his cornerman told him once again about getting out of the corner he got mad and told him "quit telling me about the corners ok" u could tell he wasnt going to follow anyones instructions he was fighting mad and getting his ass whooped real bad.
Pacific
How could anyone have discovered the Pacific,when its been there for millions of years?Actually the real discovers were various birds who brought plant seeds then small animals already there on those islands when the Polynesions got there,it wasnt barren,thats why they stayed.
Give wildlife some credit now.
BTW it was the woolly mammoths who discovered America not Indians,Indians just followed the mammoths trails from Siberia into America thousands of years ago.
Now thats being politically correct,give the extinct pachyderms the credit they deserve.
Give wildlife some credit now.
BTW it was the woolly mammoths who discovered America not Indians,Indians just followed the mammoths trails from Siberia into America thousands of years ago.
Now thats being politically correct,give the extinct pachyderms the credit they deserve.
-
Rick aka Pulga
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 03 Feb 2005, 17:00