Southpaw
Short description
Billy Hope is a reigning boxing champion with a career at its peak, a wife he grew up with in care, and a young daughter. When his wife is killed, his life collapses: he loses his home, his money and his manager, and his daughter is placed elsewhere. At his lowest point he turns to Tick Willis, a former fighter who now runs a gym for amateur boxers, and begins training again with the aim of rebuilding his life and winning back his daughter.
Southpaw was directed by Antoine Fuqua, the eleventh of his nineteen films in chronological order, following The Equalizer and preceding The Magnificent Seven. The screenplay is by Kurt Sutter, and the producers include Steve Tisch, Alan Riche and Fuqua himself. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Billy, with Rachel McAdams as Maureen, Forest Whitaker as Tick, Oona Laurence as Leila, 50 Cent as Jordan Mains and Skylan Brooks as Hoppy. The production, a Chinese and American co-production, cost about 30 million dollars and took roughly 92 million worldwide, a solid return on its budget.
Audience response has been favourable, with a rating of 7.3 from about 277,000 votes on IMDb and 7.4 from around 5,940 votes on TMDB. Critics were cooler, giving it 6 out of 10 across 238 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is dedicated to the memory of composer James Horner.
- The scenes of boxing matches in Las Vegas and Madison Square Garden were filmed in two weeks. Both matches were actually filmed at Indiana University in Pennsylvania.
- Due to a small budget, the director did not have the funds to pay James Horner for composing the film's music. However, James liked the film's concept so much that he wrote the music for free.
- Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Jeremy Renner were considered for the lead role in this film.
- In preparation for his role, Jake Gyllenhaal studied the boxing style of Miguel Cotto.
- Initially, Harry Gregson-Williams was supposed to be the film's composer. He even stated in an interview at the end of 2014 that he had already begun writing the music. However, shortly thereafter, it was announced that James Horner would be the composer.
- Lupita Nyong'o could have played Angela Rivera, but she had to leave the project due to her commitment to the film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015).
- Initially, the project was considered an unofficial continuation of the film “8 Mile” (2002) starring Eminem (who is actually left-handed). However, the script ultimately underwent significant changes and this idea was abandoned.
- Although Eminem did not star in the film due to his active music life, he composed the soundtrack for “Southpaw” and performed one of the songs himself – “Phenomenal”.
- The original title of the film, “Southpaw,” refers to boxing terminology, denoting the stance more commonly used by left-handed boxers.
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