Yesterday’s ‘Summer Preview’ discussion reminded me that we forgot to post the trailer for Southpaw a couple of weeks ago when it first dropped. In truth, I never even looked at this until late last tonight, because the only boxing movies I normally like are the ones where the guys getting punched in the face are chronic screw-ups who aren’t capable of much more than getting punched in the face. Happy to see a large part of Southpaw is just that, very realistically. Even happier to see that director Antoine Fuqua is reaching for much more than that and seems likely to achieve it, very realistically. So I’ll hold off on saying Southpaw is this year’s “Gyllenhaallar Baby” (but I’ll go on record saying it just this once before somebody else thinks to say it.)
From director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) and writers Kurt Sutter (SONS OF ANARCHY) and Richard Wenk (THE MECHANIC) comes SOUTHPAW – the story of Billy “The Great” Hope, Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World. When tragedy strikes and he loses it all, Billy enters the battle of his life as he struggles to become a contender once again and win back those he loves. SOUTHPAW stars Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Academy Award® winner Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Rita Ora, Naomie Harris and Victor Ortiz.