Boxing dramas seem to be big at the moment, what with Southpaw, Creed, Hands Of Stone and Bleed For This in the mix. The UK is not being left out, as R_ay Winstone, Johnny Harris, Michael Smiley and even Paul Weller are on board for a new, untitled drama that was once called **The Ballad Of Jimmy McCabe_{
Thomas Napper is stepping up from usual second unit duties (he worked on Anna Karenina and Into The Woods, among others) to make his feature directing debut with the film, which Harris himself wrote loosely based on his own youthful pugilism experiences. He’s starring as Jimmy, a man in search of hope who has been looking in all the wrong places. When he hits the mat of life, he goes looking for some help to his childhood boxing club, where he seeks out owner Bill (Winstone) and cornerman Eddie (Smiley).
Getting himself back into fighting shape might be the one chance he has to turn his life around. There’s no word on who Weller will play in the film, but he is also offering his more usual score composing services. Napper aims to have the cameras rolling in February or March next year.
Winstone (like Harris, a former youth boxer) will next be seen in the Point Break remake, which lands here on February 12. Smiley is on screens now in The Lobster and has Corin Hardy’s The Hallow due on November 13.