Welcome to the ever-shifting and oft-delayed world of indie filmmaking, with projects whipped by the seas of changing fortune and scheduling issues. One film, boxing biopic The Bleeder, has been waiting for its shot in the production ring for nearly four years now and appears to be coming together with a new director, Monsieur Lazhar/The Good Lie’s Philippe Falardeau.
Back in 2011, we brought word that Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts had signed on to star as boxer Chuck Wepner and his wife Linda, cannily going method by becoming a real-life couple in 2005 (all right, not that last bit, though they have been together since then).
Wepner got his start in the ring when he boxed as a US Marine before turning pro, becoming a popular fighter in New Jersey. But he never quite found real fame and fortune, earning the nickname “The Bayonne Bleeder” for some of his more serious injuries, including the results of a tough bout against Sonny Liston that resulted in him needing 120 stitches. Yet he battled on, eventually winning more fights and nabbing a shot at his big chance: a match challenging Muhammad Ali for the world’s Heavyweight Title. While he did manage to knock the champ down at one point, Ali won in the 15th round on a technical knockout, with Wepner badly hurt.
And yet his folk hero status remained unbowed, and he is reportedly the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone’s original Rocky script. Wepner’s story here has been written by Jeff Feuerzeig (who originally had his eye on the director’s chair) and Jerry Stahl, with a more recent pass by Michael Cristofer. Falardeau should be rolling the cameras this month in New York.
Schreiber will next appear in chess biopic Pawn Sacrifice, out here on December 4 and followed by Boston Globe church abuse investigation drama Spotlight, which arrives on January 29. Watts has Demolition and The Sea Of Trees awaiting UK release dates and is now shooting Colin Trevorrow’s The Book Of Henry. She’ll also be back in The Divergent Series for Allegiant, out on March 18.