The Pittsburgh Gazette got a chance to talk to director Antoine Fuqua about the movie and he gave them a sneak peek of Jake as Billy Hope on his cell phone.
“He looks like a fighter. He’s got tattoos. He’s got everything. He’s got the eyes kind of messed up, the nose is different. Oh, yeah, he looks rough. He looks tough,”
Although the story is about a boxer, the real story is about a father and daughter. “Ultimately, the story’s about a father and daughter coming to terms with mourning and coming to terms with, ‘Who’s the parent?’ Learning how to be a parent, learning how to be a father, in particular,”
Fuqua "said the story “really hit my heart. It’s a sports movie but it’s more about the father, learning how to be a dad without the mom when tragedy happens.”
“This movie is forcing this man to learn how to be a dad and learn how to control his anger. In the boxing world, of course, it’s OK to be angry and be on the edge and be violent because you get paid for it. In the real world, you can’t go around punching people; it affects everyone.” Billy’s anger and rage as a fighter will destroy him or the most precious part of his life — his daughter — if he cannot tame his temper.
Southpaw had a tight shooting schedule of just 40 days in Pennsylvania and the article said a few more days at an undisclosed location, and even tighter post production schedule. Director Fuqua almost has to cut and edit it simultaneously to meet the deadline from the Weinstein Group to have Southpaw in theaters this December.
With Nightcrawler and Southpaw it looks like Jake definitely has a one to two punch for this year's award season.
“He looks like a fighter. He’s got tattoos. He’s got everything. He’s got the eyes kind of messed up, the nose is different. Oh, yeah, he looks rough. He looks tough,”
ReplyDeleteA tough guy with cashmere socks and teacups. LOLLLLLLLLL!
Since Jake is so tough and intimidating, maybe we should fly him into Ferguson, MO. "He's got everything," after all. What a man.
Interesting. Fuqua redeemed himself after that first disappointing statement of his about the tattoos, looking tough, blah blah blah. The premise sounds fine, although we've already had Kramer vs Kramer and Mr. Mom which followed similar themes. Kramer vs Kramer was a timeless, excellent film. A heartbreaker. Even if I wanted to support Jake and his closeted movie career, I wouldn't go see Southpaw because I don't care to watch men punch each other until they looked like a slab of tenderized meat. No thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've never forgotten Jake being quoted as saying that he likes to do films which reflect where he is at in his real life. So I'm watching his film choices and all I see is extreme violence. Extreme anger. Profuse profanity (a form of verbal anger/hatred). Mental confusion. Devastation. Death - lots of death - shootings, stabbings, loss of spouse, loss of partner, debilitating disease like Parkinson's. I see darkness - lots of nighttime shooting. Sepia coloring. I see some supposed hinting at rebirth.
I'm not sure where the rebirth factors into his life. If this rebirth comes from his kids, he's sure hiding the source of this rebirth from the entire world, isn't he?
And we also have experienced how Jake constantly works in a character that is a little girl. The one exception being Zodiac, but that movie was based on a real character and before he had children. I think we are seeing a trend here.
ReplyDeleteJake had 2 nieces in Brothers. He had a niece in the Off-Broadway play. He has a daughter in Southpaw.
ReplyDeleteThis could be significant. I agree, M&M, it could be a trend.
I wonder if this is because Jake has fathered the girls, and Austin the boys.
Just a sudden observation I'm having.
Troll, you can keep spamming.
ReplyDeleteYou will not win this war.
We will find the way to keep OMG going and you will not stop this train.
Apologies to everyone. WME is having their paid employee attack this blog and try to bring it down.
They will not win but right now, moderation is necessary until the right solution is found.
I agree it must be getting paid. No normal person would do that for free. All it does for me is enforce what the truth is.
ReplyDeleteSome people can't play well with others.
ReplyDeleteWe've been around longer than anyone anymore doing daily posts, and we're going to stay that way. We may have to evolve a bit, but no worries, we're not going anywhere.
I saw what happened too. This kind of trolling has got to be professional. The troll is nasty, abusive and doesn't even attempt to astroturf or apply any other subtle means of infiltration.
ReplyDeleteThe spamming activity almost seems like someone who is desperate to crash this place and bring the blog down. I wonder if the troll has an expiration date on his contract? Or, if the scorched earth attempts have to do with Jake's upcoming TIFF and awards season which actually starts in less than two months. Weinstein's pretty powerful and doesn't liked to be crossed. Just a thought.
OT: I'm sick of Jake's tough man re-imaging too. Not appealing in the least.
Well, it should be interesting to see how Southpaw is received and reviewed. The other acts of subterfuge and hiding will no doubt also carry on, so will wait and see how Jake and Austin deal with life and how management and HW try to colour in the spaces.
ReplyDeleteBravo OMG in standing up to the sheister tactics!
Kind of normal for actors to go into character mode before and during movie production and even into award season. James Franco is the poster boy for it.
ReplyDelete