How many great fighters have been handed the silver screen treatment posthumously or while still living? Plenty, that’s for sure. And while some of these films/movies/biopics have been nothing short of great: see ‘Raging Bull,’ ‘The Fighter,’ ‘The Joe Louis Story,’ and maybe one or two other boxing flicks, there have also been too many turkeys, KO losses to forget: see ‘Ali,’ ‘The Hurricane,’ and the recent and wholly disappointing Big George Foreman movie.
But the boxing movie that has just been announced as being in the works to pay tribute to middleweight great Marvelous Marvin Hagler has to deliver. Why? Because Hagler was great, and his story was long and hard forged. Also, the folks behind the in-the-works project profess to be massive Hagler fans.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Sam Rockwell and producer Mark Berger have won the battle over the rights to Dave Wedge’s upcoming book on Hagler, Blood & Hate: The Untold Story of Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s Battle for Glory. And now, plans are afoot for the movie ahead of the book’s scheduled 2025 release.
Reportedly, Rockwell will play one of the two Petronelli brothers, who, of course, looked after Marvin as he set about ruling the middleweight landscape. Rockwell and Berger will serve as co-producers.
Rockwell is a huge Hagler fan:
“I remember watching Marvin Hagler’s fights in the 1980s and was always astonished by his talent and grit. He was an extraordinary southpaw. Now, to be able to tell his underdog story, especially as a lifelong boxing fan, is a dream come true,” the actor said in a statement.
No word yet on who will portray Hagler. But, as is always the case when news breaks regarding an upcoming boxing movie that will, hopefully, shine nothing but the truth on one of our heroes, we all hope the REAL story will be told. Too many times, we’ve been, without lack of exaggeration, offended by the so-called ‘artistic license’ that belongs to filmmakers. Real facts changed to make a more dramatic storyline; even made-up characters were put into the story to make the movie more interesting or to make the audience more sympathetic towards the star. We don’t need it.
Again, hopefully, the Hagler story will suffer no such embellishments or flat-out changes in history. Hagler as we know, came up the hard way, his skills, his toughness, his desire forged as he battled through wars in Philly, as he suffered bad decisions against him – as he fought killer after killer.
In an ideal world, the forthcoming movie will sign in at around the three-hour mark, maybe even longer. How can the Hagler story be fully, accurately, and passionately told if not? And for us fight fans/Hagler fans, it will be fascinating to see who plays Hagler foes such as Vito Antuofermo, Alan Minter, John Mugabi, Thomas Hearns………and Sugar Ray Leonard.
It’s a shame that Hagler is not still living, seeing how he is now getting the statue and the movie treatment he so richly deserves.
