Sugar Ray Robinson film in the works

who would paly him? jaimie foxx with wavy hair might actually be a good choice.

Terrence Howard already has the hair locked down.

Ali wrote:

Terrence Howard already has the hair locked down.

i had forgotten him. he'd be a good choice.

Not a bad call

what about Terry Crews? lol

from Woodchuck's sig

gomez1012 wrote:

Not a bad call

what about Terry Crews? lol

from Woodchuck's sig

LOL he'd be better suited for a Holyfield biopic.

Need a young actor none of us have ever heard of. Gotta remember just how young Robinson was when he was on top. 23-27 years old. Can't have some guy in his forties playing him.

It was also a very mediocre book. Tough to find a lot of drama in it.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

Need a young actor none of us have ever heard of. Gotta remember just how young Robinson was when he was on top. 23-27 years old. Can't have some guy in his forties playing him.

It was also a very mediocre book. Tough to find a lot of drama in it.

They somehow managed to make a film about Secretariat dominating the Triple Crown lol

gomez1012 wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:

Need a young actor none of us have ever heard of. Gotta remember just how young Robinson was when he was on top. 23-27 years old. Can't have some guy in his forties playing him.

It was also a very mediocre book. Tough to find a lot of drama in it.

They somehow managed to make a film about Secretariat dominating the Triple Crown lol

There's actually a TON of drama in Secretariat's story. The horrible perfomrance in the Wood Memorial, the near bankruptcy and collapse of the owner's breeding operation and the promises made to get the $6 million syndication completed.

bout time Eddie Murphy bought the rights to the Ray Robinson movie after Raging Bull was made

been sitting on this for a looooooooooooooooooooooong time

Birdofthad wrote:

bout time Eddie Murphy bought the rights to the Ray Robinson movie after Raging Bull was made

been sitting on this for a looooooooooooooooooooooong time

So you think lil bro Charlie might get a shot to play Robinson? That would be epic!

very doubtful originally when Eddie bought the rights to the film he had the actor/boxer that played Robinson in Raging Bull in mind as playing Robinson

too old for that know but i expect a young nobody with boxing background to play Ray

Birdofthad wrote:

very doubtful originally when Eddie bought the rights to the film he had the actor/boxer that played Robinson in Raging Bull in mind as playing Robinson

too old for that know but i expect a young nobody with boxing background to play Ray

POPPA DOC from 8 Mile could play that role. I have seen him in alot of other stuff and he is a good actor. I would rather it be him then some popular guy like TI or Chris Brown. I could see Murphy going for a guy like that just to cash in even more.

Birdofthad wrote:

very doubtful originally when Eddie bought the rights to the film he had the actor/boxer that played Robinson in Raging Bull in mind as playing Robinson

too old for that know but i expect a young nobody with boxing background to play Ray

Boxing for a film can be taught in months. Ask Will Smith!

if TI or Chris Brown gets the roll i will be pissed wtih Eddie, I dont think he sat on this for almost 20 years to sell out though

atleast i hope not

i agre beast but look how good a guy with actual boxing background did with Ray Robinsons character in Raging Bull makes a huge difference IMO

Birdofthad wrote:

i agre beast but look how good a guy with actual boxing background did with Ray Robinsons character in Raging Bull makes a huge difference IMO

That was an 80's movie. With what they are doing today I could play Ray with brown paint on my face and they would make me look like a champ.

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

very doubtful originally when Eddie bought the rights to the film he had the actor/boxer that played Robinson in Raging Bull in mind as playing Robinson

too old for that know but i expect a young nobody with boxing background to play Ray

Boxing for a film can be taught in months. Ask Will Smith!

He was dismal. How could he not be?

You guys are making it sound like they can't watch a film of a fight and practice for a few weeks to nail it. Hollywood can do anything in a film and it will look good.

Eddy as SRR?

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

You guys are making it sound like they can't watch a film of a fight and practice for a few weeks to nail it. Hollywood can do anything in a film and it will look good.

Nah, not even close. A great fighter's rhythm, violence of movement, reflexes, speed, balance etc cannot be duplicated on film by someone with a few months training. It can only be imitated....badly. The inability of the actor to complete a sustained, one view shot for minutes at a time makes this obvious. Fight films ALWAYS have to use cutaways, lots of different angles, no sustained shot from one view. Why? Because they know the actor can't pull it off.

It's not exactly an insult to say one could not expect otherwise. Look at my signature of about six seconds of Alexis Arguello. There isn't an actor on the planet who with a few months training could mimic everything Arguello does in just those few seconds. The spin off the ropes (while perfectly balanced), the slip to the left (taking two steps while doing so), the slip to the right (taking two more steps to optimize distance) and then the laser beam straight, perfectly balanced and perfectly judged one-two.

Fight films are invariably highly stylized. They have to be. It doesn't make them bad movies or not entertaining, but never for a second do you wonder if you're watching real footage.

It's not just boxing either. I mean can you imagine an actor, even one who played say HS basketball really well, being able to play even 2-3 minutes of full court basketball from one point of view, put on film, somehow convincing you on film he really was Michael Jordan? It would take all sorts o different, brief shots to make it remotely credible and still not for a second would you wonder if that was really jordan. Heck they could superimpose his head onto the actor's body and it wouldn't fool you.

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

bout time Eddie Murphy bought the rights to the Ray Robinson movie after Raging Bull was made

been sitting on this for a looooooooooooooooooooooong time

So you think lil bro Charlie might get a shot to play Robinson? That would be epic!

Darknessssssss!!!!!

I love sports movies, but they are never able to catch the authenticity of any sport.

flapanther2001 wrote:

I love sports movies, but they are never able to catch the authenticity of any sport.

Damn, that same thought took me 150 freaking words!

marbleheadmaui wrote:

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

You guys are making it sound like they can't watch a film of a fight and practice for a few weeks to nail it. Hollywood can do anything in a film and it will look good.

Nah, not even close. A great fighter's rhythm, violence of movement, reflexes, speed, balance etc cannot be duplicated on film by someone with a few months training. It can only be imitated....badly. The inability of the actor to complete a sustained, one view shot for minutes at a time makes this obvious. Fight films ALWAYS have to use cutaways, lots of different angles, no sustained shot from one view. Why? Because they know the actor can't pull it off.

It's not exactly an insult to say one could not expect otherwise. Look at my signature of about six seconds of Alexis Arguello. There isn't an actor on the planet who with a few months training could mimic everything Arguello does in just those few seconds. The spin off the ropes (while perfectly balanced), the slip to the left (taking two steps while doing so), the slip to the right (taking two more steps to optimize distance) and then the laser beam straight, perfectly balanced and perfectly judged one-two.

Fight films are invariably highly stylized. They have to be. It doesn't make them bad movies or not entertaining, but never for a second do you wonder if you're watching real footage.

It's not just boxing either. I mean can you imagine an actor, even one who played say HS basketball really well, being able to play even 2-3 minutes of full court basketball from one point of view, put on film, somehow convincing you on film he really was Michael Jordan? It would take all sorts o different, brief shots to make it remotely credible and still not for a second would you wonder if that was really jordan. Heck they could superimpose his head onto the actor's body and it wouldn't fool you.

You're right, Marble. However, there are some fight films that do justice to the fighters they cover.

Robert De Niro could not duplicate the jab of Jake La Motta. He could, however, train for a year and put on a great performance in the ring and out. His martial arts training helped out a great deal as well. I thought "Cinderella Man" was choreographed beautifully. Even the cheap but effective “Undisputed” with Wesley Snipes was done well. “Carl Weathers” (Apollo Crede) was also an excellent show fighter. I thought Carl and Sly did a wonderful job in Rocky & Rocky II (Sure, at some points, you could see they missed each other by a mile but for the most part they looked like professionals.) Also, at some points in Rocky II, anyone can see that a sane ref would’ve stopped the fight (LOL).

Cutaways and everything you mentioned are necessary to make the action look authentic. These are not professional fighters but my point is, with editing, they can be made to look close enough so that an untrained eye fails to notice the difference.
Nobody will argue that Ray Robinson can be duplicated, though he can be imitated well enough by a determined director, a new talent (No known actor could play him as far as I know) and a good choreographer (Angelo Dundee did well in “The Cinderella Man.”) to make a great movie. That said, I don’t think it will be done.

There are also movies based on great fighters where it is evident that the director had no idea or concern over the fight scenes. The production, “Ali” was a travesty in and out of the ring. The fight scenes looked like something out of an amateur, tough man competition. I have no comment on the performances.

My overall thoughts are that the Robinson movie will be a disaster. They will hire a known black actor (Please God, save me from Will Smith) and put little trouble in the fight scenes. Large studios do not always make the most intelligent decisions. Blinded by money, these major studios miss the most important factor behind any great movie. “Passion.” Bullshit (which is what the majors turn out) can be devoid of passion. A real movie cannot.