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“Raging Bull” vibes abound in actor-turned-writer/director Jack Huston‘s first feature behind the camera. Huston reunites with his “Boardwalk Empire” co-star Michael C. Pitt for the 2023 out-of-competition Venice premiere “Day of the Fight.” The black-and-white drama follows a formerly renowned boxer Mike Flannigan (Pitt) now fresh out of prison and heading into his first fight since he was incarcerated.
Falling Forward Films — which this year released “Goodrich,” “Reagan,” and will soon debut “Los Frikis” — opens “Day of the Fight” in theaters on December 6. Below, IndieWire shares an exclusive clip from the film, which shows Mike asking his onetime best friend Patrick (John Magaro), now a Catholic priest, about the path toward redemption for his past. (The difference here from Martin Scorsese’s own black-and-white boxing classic being that of course Robert De Niro’s Jake LaMotta was seeking no redemption of any kind.)
Watch the clip in the video above.
Here’s the official synopsis for the film: “A once-celebrated boxer is about to fight for the first time since leaving prison. To prepare, he takes a redemptive journey through the streets of Brooklyn, reconnecting with those he loves the most. While trying to right the wrongs of his past, he risks everything for the fight of his life.”
The rest of the cast includes another “Boardwalk Empire” alum, Steve Buscemi, as Mike’s uncle. Elsewhere on the redemption trail is Nicolette Robinson as Mike’s ex-wife, who is now raising their teenage daughter alone while working as a bartender, Ron Perlman as his trainer, and Joe Pesci as his formerly abusive father who now lives with dementia in a nursing home. Peter Simonite lenses the film with black-and-white cinematography while Ben MacDiarmid provides the score. Producers are Josh Porter, Jack Huston, Jai Stefan, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Colleen Camp.
As Michael C. Pitt explained recently at a Contenders panel hosted by IndieWire’s sister site Deadline, the actor convinced Huston to stage a real fight for the film’s climax. They only had a day and a half to shoot it. “I had said to Jack, ‘Put the fight at the end of the movie. They won’t worry whether or not I get hurt then. We’ll make contact. We’ll fight. We might need to do that.” Pitt added, “On a bigger production, they have more time. They have stunts and all these things.”
Falling Forward opens “Day of the Fight” in select theaters on Friday, December 6.
English (US) ·