One of the more interesting angles you can take when putting together a film that is intended for a wider appeal is that of a hard-hitting family drama. 'The Blind Side', anyone? That's right. We all remember the 2010 Best Picture nominee that took white people and black people, football and family, threw them all into a Sandra Bullock powered mixer and ended up raking in over a quarter of a million dollars at the US box office. That staggering figure was based purely on a wide appeal. Susie Homemaker-mothers saw the trailer and instantly bundled their tough-guy, Coach Carter of a husband and four strapping quarterback sons into the Town & Country, and it was off to the multiplex. 'This will be nice,' she thought. I can only imagine the increasing moisture in the corner of her eye as Leigh Anne 'intimidates' some ghetto hoods by threatening that if they were to be threatening her son they would in turn be threatening her also. Realistically, following her emotionally charged street outburst we would have witnessed a nine pressed firmly against her forehead as she began to cry and beg pitifully for her life. Now THAT'S hard-hitting family drama.
This type of gritty realism is more along the lines of David O. Russell's 'The Fighter'. A film which literally (sorry in advance) pulls no punches in its inspirational but often upsetting telling of life in Lowell, Massachussetts for the family and friends of a real-life pair of semi-pro, boxer brothers. Minutes in, wide appeal goes straight out the window. If you thought 'The Blind Side' was just a glossy Hallmark movie-of-the-week before, 'The Fighter' makes it look like GCSE Drama homework scrawled on the back of a wet tea towel.
The first thing anyone should know before watching 'The Fighter' is that story of the film is as true and as interesting as the film's story. After four rewrites between 2003 and 2007 and being rejected by Martin Scorcese, Darren Aronofsky was brought on board to direct in 2007. Following his departure from the project in 2008 in favour of 'Black Swan' (a great move on his part considering the film's eventual similarities to 'The Wrestler'), Mark Wahlberg called upon his previous two-time collaborator David O. Russell. By this point you're thinking, why is Mark Wahlberg in charge of hiring directors? And it's quite simple, this is Wahlberg's movie. While his lead performance may not be the strongest in the film, his dedication to the project and the true story behind it (as a producer) is entirely unrivaled by anyone in the industry as far as I'm concerned. With Relativity Media on board to finance, and distribution sold to The Weinstein Company, 'The Fighter' was finally set to start shooting. Principle photography began in July 2009 (four years after Wahlberg began to train for the role of Micky Ward) on a budget of $11 million.
While Wahlberg's determination to bring Ward's story to life is already evident, it should be noted that Christian Bale's trademark dedication was equally as impressive. Not unlike his turn in 'The Machinist', the role of Dicky Eklund required (in Bale's professional opinion) drastic weight loss in order to accurately portray the crack-addicted ex-title fighter. Furthermore, he even went missing for hours at a time to mentally prepare himself for the challenge that lay ahead (an act of preparation that becomes obviously evident once you've seen the film).
Mindset in place, Bale proceeded to entirely own the 33-day shoot. As a Bale fan, I have been long waiting for the role that may come to define him. Sure, he's a cult hero. You only have to watch 'American Psycho' or 'The Machinist' to remind yourself of that. And sure, he's a box office superstar. Hell, he's Batman AND John Connor. However, until last week I was always feeling like maybe he was going to end up heading down the Jeff Bridges route. I don't know about you, but for me it's hard watching brilliant actors being consistently under-appreciated critically. And by under-appreciated, I think you know what I mean (*cough* AMPAS *cough*). Needless to say, Bale's performance in 'The Fighter' will most certainly earn him his first Academy Award nomination. And if I were a betting man, I'd probably go as far as saying he's the odds on favourite. Don’t get me wrong, I'm sure that Geoffrey Rush is typically superb in 'The King's Speech', but from what I've seen firsthand, the bang-on embodiment of Dicky Eklund is the stand out supporting performance of 2010 by a country mile.
What instantly demands your attention from the opening scene is the way Dicky 'ticks'. David O. Russell has been quoted as saying, 'Dicky has a whole rhythm to him, a music. Christian had to understand how his mind works.' The way that Christian Bale approaches any role he undertakes involves doing exactly this. He will take on the behaviours and mannerisms of his real-life or literary counterparts and literally (if it's possible) become that character for the duration of the shoot. He uses this practice not only on set, but even in interviews and promotional material attached to the film. Lest we forget that Bale is in fact English, or had you forgotten?
Maybe it's the wide eyes of denial, and later the tired, sunken gaze of a man self-realised that give Bale's performance such lasting impact, power and purpose. You are forced to watch a man helplessly addicted to drugs behave with such blasé intent that at times it is deeply upsetting. So genuinely upsetting in fact, that it becomes an important catalyst in making the eventual redemption all the more uplifting. In a roundabout way, it's precisely this angle that makes the film itself such a powerhouse. You are given enough time with the characters to form not only opinions, but bonds with them as they are one-by-one exposed to their emotional cores. In the end, what really resonates is the knowledge that through all of their imperfections, mistakes and abusive tendencies towards one another, that the love is always there. It remains.
As outstanding as Bale is, it would be as criminal as his character to let him overshadow the other two award-worthy supporting performances in ‘The Fighter’. Both come in the form of strong-willed female characters, but on opposite ends of the spectrum. In opposing corners, shall we say. More obviously, you have Melissa Leo as Micky and Dicky’s mother Alice who as well as being an overbearing parent has also acted as manager for both boxers at some point in both of their careers. What Leo does so well is that she encapsulates so many different aspects of Alice’s personality over the course of the film, and in this practice ends up completely disappearing within her character. There is the in-front-of-the-camera Alice who dolls up and exudes almost embarrassing amounts of confidence not only in her boys (namely Dicky) but in herself, as well as the Alice who through all her ‘tryharding’ is unable to succeed in ambitions regarding her sons. It is the latter Alice that interested me particularly as within this half of the character’s psyche there were a further two sides to her. One side tends to overdramatise things and uses guilt trips either to get one of the boys back on her team (usually Micky as Dicky relishes any and all attention that comes his way) or to get her own way, where as the other side is the genuinely broken and bared Alice. The Alice that accepts her eldest son is a destructive crack addict and that her only other son is verging on hating her. The Alice that is battling the system every single day to support her seven grown daughters (and one grandson) who day after day populate her house contributing next to nothing. The Alice who can’t bear to lose the opportunity to profit monitarily off of her son’s exploits, who accepts his physical punishment fight after fight in the knowledge that win or lose, you get paid. The love though? It is always there. It remains.
More subtly but no less brilliant, Amy Adams is Micky’s girlfriend Charlene, a college dropout barmaid whose own toughness rounds off Micky’s. Where as he is able to handle himself in the ring, she is able to handle his family without a glint of fear or intimidation. One scene in particular that demonstrates the impact she has on Micky’s confidence is the scene in which she meets Alice for the first time. Up until this point in the story, Micky always felt the need to shy away from potentially disappointing his mother and brother, even if that meant compromising his own feelings about situations that involved him and that realistically, he should have been taking charge of. It is evident in this scene that in the three weeks Micky has been seeing Charlene, he has clearly opened up to her no end, so that when Alice typically tries to win Micky back from her, his words do not hesitate to come from Charlene’s mouth like they would from his. Everything he has wanted to say concerning Dicky holding him back and turning down the opportunity to get paid to train year-round in Las Vegas, she feels empowered to say. She feels it more than necessary to have Micky’s feelings considered by his own family, and rightly so.
What’s probably most important to consider about the character of Charlene is the fact that she is the first person Micky has ever become close to outside of his family since he started to box professionally. Her no-bullshit attitude coupled with intense concern for Micky’s wellbeing is what spurs him on to victories not only in the ring, but in life. She completes his circle of strength and in this strength he finds his confidence.
With Charlene by his side, Dicky in prison, and Alice at home rather than ringside; he has a new manager backing him and a new trainer in police sergeant O’Keefe (played charmingly by Mickey O’Keefe himself! Ward’s real life trainer!). The pieces are firmly in place for the fighter to mount a title challenge.
Whether or not ‘The Fighter’ itself will end up mounting a title challenge of it’s own is yet to be decided. The competition in 2010 was as tough as it’s ever been with films like ‘The King’s Speech’, ‘The Social Network’, ‘Black Swan’, ‘Inception’ and ‘True Grit’ all serious contenders for the year’s top prizes. If there was ever a film that had momentum in it’s favour though, ‘The Fighter’ is it (followed ever so closely by ‘True Grit’). It initially stunned us all with it’s six Golden Globe nominations, and then proceeded to be short listed for the all important and all telling Director’s Guild of America award last week. For those of you who don’t recognise the importance of the DGA award, allow me to break it down for you. Only 6 times since the award’s inception in 1947 has the recipient failed to win the Oscar for Best Director.
With David O. Russell stepping up and denying nominations for the likes of previous winners Danny Boyle and Joel and Ethan Coen (for ‘127 Hours’ and ’True Grit’ respectively), I think it’s safe to say that he is a legitimate threat. His use of Beta camera fight footage and punch-for-punch bout reenactment is what really sets the film apart from any other sports movie I've ever seen. The question is, can he overcome the likes of Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher and provide ’The Fighter’ with that final push it would need to be a serious Best Picture contender? Probably not, but one thing is for damn sure.
He’s not a stepping stone anymore.
The Fighter is released on February 4th.
