How many boxing movies can you handle in the span of the next four months? “Hands Of Stone” opens at the end of August, and then this fall, there will be two more pugilist pictures, each aiming to KO the awards season. There’s “Bleed Like This” starring Miles Teller which is already out of the gate with a trailer, and then there’s “The Bleeder” which is now showing its first footage from the film, but there are no punches thrown.
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Well, that’s not entirely true as Elisabeth Moss, chewing on a big New York accent, metaphorically jabs her husband and boxer Chuck Wepner, played by Liev Schreiber, after catching him at a diner with another woman. It’s a sour note in Wepner’s otherwise remarkable story. Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
THE BLEEDER, a film by Philippe Falardeau, is the true-life story of Chuck Wepner (Leiv Schreiber), a liquor salesman from New Jersey, who went 15 rounds in the stunning 1975 heavyweight world championship against the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. In his ten years as a boxer, Wepner endured eight broken noses, 14 losses, two knockouts, a total of 313 stitches, and ultimately inspired the billion-dollar Rocky franchise. But his toughest fights were outside the ring – living an epic life of booze, drugs, wild women, incredible highs and extraordinary lows.
Also starring Naomi Watts, and directed by Philippe Falardeau (“Monsieur Lazhar“), “The Bleeder” will screen at both Venice and TIFF.
