Boxing movies and the Oscars haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye over the past couple of years. The heart-swelling crowd-pleaser “Creed” was given short shrift by the Academy, while Harvey Weinstein‘s promises that “Southpaw” would net Jake Gyllenhaal some hardware failed to materialize. And while Harv’s 2016 pugilist pic “Hands Of Stone” is already pretty much a write-off, Open Road is hoping Miles Teller can punch them to Oscar success with “Bleed For This.”
READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2016
Written and directed by Ben Younger (“Boiler Room“), and co-starring Aaron Eckhart, the film tells the triumphant tale of champion Vinny Pazienza, who survived a near-fatal car crash and punched his way back to glory. And to get prepped, Teller went all in.
“You can’t eat anything that you want. You have to be very — I just kind of locked myself away,” the actor explained to Us. “Like I remember Halloween was the only night I drank really in like 8 months. I didn’t eat bread for 7 months. You have to just stay committed. You’re playing a professional boxer. It’s embarrassing if you’re not in good shape. I just didn’t want to be embarrassed by not putting in the work physically.”
We’ll see how that effort pays off when “Bleed For This” opens on November 4th before going wide on November 23rd.
