News

This article may contain spoilers for Uppercut, which is in theaters, digital and on demand on February 28th.

Sports drama films come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the best examples of the genre comes in the form of boxing. From Rocky toMillion Dollar Baby, boxing films have always shown the measure of a person and their ability to keep going. In the case of Uppercut, starring German singer Luiii and Ving Rhames, the story is far more complex. A new take on a German film titled Leberhaken, the film follows Toni (Luiii) as someone wanting to be trained in boxing by a past champion named Elliot (Rhames).

The story is about two people understanding one another and how they change in a series of flashbacks and flashforwards centered on how boxing changed Toni. Cbr to speak with Luiii and Rhames about their film, their relationship in it,...

One of the greatest sitcoms ever created, "Frasier" had its fill of memorable guest appearances during its eleven season run from 1993 to 2004, amassing an incredible 23 Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series. While Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahony, Jane Leeves, and Peri Gilpin steered the ship for over a decade, like most long-running shows (sitcom or not) the supporting cast, recurring characters, and famous guest spots created interesting and unique dynamics to keep the spirit of the show fresh.

Choosing only 15 guest stars for a show as renowned as "Frasier" proved a difficult challenge, with many amazing performances left off the list for some lesser known appearances. It should also be noted that this list only includes on-screen guest appearances, as the number of famous voices who called in to "The Dr. Frasier Crane Show" on Kacl is far too expansive to consolidate into one list.

This story originally ran in an April 1974 issue of Rolling Stone.

In Peru, one kept a daily journal; now Kristofferson bends grinning over its pages, on which, in the winter of ’70, Andes mud spilled and dried like blood spots. “Hell,” he offers rurally, “wouldn’t surprise me none you said it was blood.”

One had gone there to write about the making, or rather, wresting from the soil, of Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie; Kris, totally unknown then, was doing the film’s score. Rain hung over the Andes...

With the recent announcement of the Dennis Rodman biopic, 48 Hours in Vegas, with Jonathan Majors in talks to star as the basketball Hall of Famer, it's likely the film will dramatize parts of a story to fit the typical narrative structure of movies and television. But certain moments in sports history are often recreated on-screen to encapsulate what it felt like in real life.

Whether it's moments of triumph or tragedy, recreating some of the biggest moments in sports can be difficult but are almost always necessary, considering the importance of the moment to an athlete or team's story. Seeing a historical event in sports in real-time can never be beaten, but seeing it recreated and acted out can add an emotional punch to a story when done well.

Kareem Beats The Buzzer In Magic's First NBA Game: Winning Time (2022 - )

HBO's Winning Time is an extremely well-made show for all intents and purposes.

Having starred as Martin Luther King in Selma, British actor David Oyelowo is planning to play another American icon, Sugar Ray Robinson.

The star of The Midnight Sky is in the process of writing the film Sweet Thunder, which he will also produce and star in, and tells the Times newspaper that it has proved a tireless passion project: “Selma took seven years; I think we’re almost ten with Sweet Thunder.”

During that time, Oyelowo has been inspired to maintain the required level of fitness to play Robinson, who he says “had unbelievable footwork and incredible hand speed,” seen in his five victories in the ring against Jake Lamotta, played by Robert De Niro in Raging Bull.

The actor will next be seen on the big screen in the film See How They Run, a murder-mystery set in 1950s London, co-starring Saoirse Ronan and Ruth Wilson.

He is also starring as Bass Reeves,...

Without question, Muhammad Ali (who died on June 3rd, 2016) transformed the world of sports. Winning the heavyweight title three times — beginning with his shocking upset of Sonny Liston in 1964, which made him the youngest boxer to unseat an incumbent heavyweight champion — Ali is considered, alongside Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson, one of the best boxers ever to enter a ring. Though his pugilistic style was unorthodox and an affront to boxing purists at the time, his dazzling combination of speed and power revolutionized the sport, and most boxing observers...

David Oyelowo and director Nate Parker are collaborating again on the drama “Solitary.”

The film also stars Olivia Washington, Barry Pepper and Jimmie Fails. Oyelowo will play a wrongfully imprisoned man who’s been released after seven years of solitary confinement. Washington will portray his fiancé. Production starts next week in Vancouver for Bron Studios.

Parker is also directing Oyelowo in “Sweet Thunder,” a biopic about boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson. During a conversation as part of Variety’s Virtual TIFF Studio, Oyelowo defended his decision to work with Parker, saying, “He is a good person beyond his fallibility, beyond the mistakes he made. And I believe in redemption.”

During the 2016 promotion for Parker’s “Birth of a Nation,” reports emerged that Parker and his “Birth of a Nation” co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of rape in 1999. Parker was acquitted and Celestin’s conviction was overturned on appeal. Their...

Given the controversies and allegations surrounding Nate Parker, many were surprised by the announcement that he would be directing David Oyelowo’s film “Sweet Thunder,” a biopic about boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson.

During a conversation as part of the Toronto Film Festival, Oyelowo defended his decision to work with the filmmaker.

“I have a pretty good discernment when it comes to good people,” Oyelowo said at Variety’s Virtual TIFF Studio presented by Canada Goose while promoting his directorial debut “The Water Man.” “He is a good person beyond his fallibility, beyond the mistakes he made. And I believe in redemption. I believe in forgiveness and he is someone I have been around enough to know that in my opinion he is worthy of that.”

Parker’s career came to a screeching halt just as he was earning major Oscar buzz in 2016 for “Birth of a Nation,” his directorial...

“I think your grandpa might be a Ninja,” a frightened child warns the younger half of a warring faction in the new The War with Grandpa trailer. Robert De Niro, who survived the Vietnam War in The Deer Hunter, mob wars in Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II, and battled Sugar Ray Robinson in Raging Bull, is taking off his fiercest enemy yet. And may finally be outmatched in this conflict of pranks in the family movie.

Initially scheduled for release on Feb. 23, 2018, The War with Grandpa was one of the films to suffer from the fallout of the collapse of The Weinstein Company. Now 101 Studios has acquired the distribution rights and is setting the release date for Oct. 9. Under new Covid-19 restrictions, movie theaters are reopening with capacity limits, so there will be less competition for screens. Which is ironic since the crux of the new movie is...

Following months of hype over a potential return to the ring, Mike Tyson is stepping out of retirement for a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr. The showdown has been set for Sept. 12 with plans to air the brawl on pay-per-view as well as on the multi-media platform, Triller. Additionally, Triller has obtained exclusive streaming rights to a ten-part documentary series featuring behind-the-scenes footage of the fight, with each installment releasing two episodes per week until the match. Called Frontline Battle, the fight is also said to be the first event of a new partnership between Triller and Tyson's Legends Only League.

Right up there with the greatest fighters of all time like Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, Mike Tyson will forever be known as one of the biggest legends of the sport. Naturally lethal, Tyson won his first heavyweight title belt at the age of 20, setting the record...

The widow of famed actor/dancer Gene Kelly has leaped into the fray regarding Lara Spencer’s comments on ballet.

Patricia Ward Kelly responded in an open letter after Spencer, the Good Morning America host, mocked young Prince George over his ballet lessons, holding back laughter at the prospect of the six-year-old dancing.

“In 1958, my late husband, the dancer, director, choreographer Gene Kelly, decided to take on the stigma facing male dancers in an Omnibus television program for NBC that he created and starred in called Dancing, A Man’s Game,” wrote Ward Kelly. “Gene would be devastated to know that 61 years after his ground-breaking work, the issue of boys and men dancing is still the subject of ridicule—and on a national network,.” She concluded: “ABC must do better.”

Spencer has apologized for her remarks made during a Thursday morning segment. She said during the segment that George, the...

Locarno, Switzerland — Originally announced as a movie re-teaming, post “Southpaw,” Antoine Fuqua and Jake Gyllenhaal’s “The Man Who Made It Snow” is now set up at Epix as a limited TV series, Fuqua said Saturday at Locarno Festival, where he will present Denzel Washington-starrer “The Equalizer 2” at the 8,000 seat Piazza Grande, one of the biggest open-air cinemas in Europe.

Inspired by the true story of Max Mermelstein, a Jewish hotel engineer who becomes embroiled unwittingly and then unwillingly in the building billion-dollar U.S. drug trade of Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel, “The Man Who Made It Snow” was originally written by Michael Kingston and Brett Tabor. A new screenwriter is now being brought in to transform the movie into a drama series. Gyllenhaal may or may not be involved, according to his schedule, said Fuqua.

“What I love about it is that Max was a nerd,...

Exclusive: David and Jessica Oyelowo and their production company Yoruba Saxon have sealed an exclusive, first-look deal with Mwm Studios to develop both film and television projects. Yoruba Saxon, founded in 2014, is the company behind such films as A United Kingdom (Fox Searchlight Pathe), Captive (Paramount), Nightingale (HBO) and Five Nights in Main (Filmrise).

Oyelowo, of course, is the actor who won international kudos for his brilliant portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma and who is also an acclaimed stage actor, having played everything from King Henry VI at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London to his recent turn as Othello opposite Daniel Craig in the New York Theatre Workshop.

Mwm Studios has had a great few years with its Emmy-nominated NatGeo series Genius with Imagine Television and its Academy Award nominated film Hell or High Water (with Ske). Mwm was formerly known as OddLot Entertainment before the...

[[tmz:video id="0_hnae0l9k"]] Roy Jones Jr. says Jake Lamotta is one of the 10 greatest fighters Ever -- and says the late, great boxer had a very real impact on his own legendary career.  "He taught me that no matter how tough things got, no matter how hard things got, you don't stop," Jones tells TMZ Sports. "That's why he's called a Raging Bull. You don't stop for nothing." As for why Jake belongs on the All-Time Top 10 list,...

Jake Lamotta, the “Raging Bull” brawler with the iron chin who fought Sugar Ray Robinson six times and was portrayed by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s iconic 1980 movie, has died. He was 95. His death Tuesday was confirmed in a Facebook post by his family. The black-and-white Raging Bull is considered among the greatest sports movies of all time. De Niro won his only Best Actor Oscar for Raging Bull, a gritty tale of the quick-tempered, easily jealous Lamotta’s…...

Jake Lamotta, the famous boxer portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the Martin Scorsese-directed 1980 classic Raging Bull, has died, aged 95.

His daughter, Christi, confirmed the death Tuesday evening on Facebook, writing, “Jake Lamotta July 10, 1922 – September 19, 2017 – Rest in Peace Pop.”

Denise Baker, the former champ’s wife, told TMZ Wednesday that her husband died in a nursing home due to complications from pneumonia. Another family member told TMZ Lamotta’s health had been deteriorating in the last few weeks, and that a decision was made to withdraw his feeding tube.

“I just want people to know, he was a great, sweet,...

Boxing legend Jake Lamotta -- the champ who was played by Robert De Niro in the movie "Raging Bull" -- died Tuesday, TMZ has learned. He was 95. Jake's wife tells TMZ, Jake died in a nursing home due to complications from pneumonia. Another family member tells TMZ, Jake's condition deteriorated in the last few weeks. He was put on a feeding tube, which he kept pulling out. His condition worsened considerably in the last...

Tony Sokol Dec 3, 2019

That stance. That swagger. That defense. Rocky Balboa could never match the stamina of his cinematic debut.

Directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, Rocky still has the excitement, optimism, and thrill of victory that brought audiences to their feet when it first hit the screen. Moviegoers didn’t yet know it was the beginning of a franchise where every other movie was a technical knockout but culminated in a tour de force exit for the elder pugilist. Rocky, the original 1976 movie, is a winner, even though the main character ultimately loses at the end. It doesn’t matter, he’s still standing, and that in itself was a long shot.

Rocky, the scrappy strip of celluloid, has endured with the same stamina that drove the upstart fighter in the middle of it to run the length of Philly on no more juice than some raw eggs.

[[tmz:video id="0_57zocyzh"]] Charlamagne Tha God let former boxing champ Shawn Porter do something rappers have wanted to do to Charlamagne for years ... punch him in the face ... in a live sparring match in NYC yesterday. It all went down at Gleason's boxing gym on Wednesday afternoon ... and we're told the whole thing was the idea of Shawn's dad and trainer, Kenny, who's pretty good friends with Mr. Tha God. Check out the clip -- Charlamagne isn't exactly Sugar Ray Robinson in there,...

The 9th annual Africa World Documentary Film Festival, sponsored by the E. Desmond Lee Professorship in African/African American Studies at the International Studies and Programs Office, University of Missouri-St. Louis, will run from Friday, February 5, to Sunday, February 7 at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd (63112). This international festival is committed to promoting knowledge of the life and culture of the people of Africa worldwide, in a cinematic Pan-African context. During its St. Louis run, the festival will feature 14 films from nine countries, including South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, China and the United States. This event is free and open to the public. Middle and high school students from St. Louis area, (including students from Pamoja Preparatory Academy – an African centered St. Louis Public School), are expected to attend the opening day of the festival.

One of the added attractions of the festival will be Q&A’s with...

It ain't Ali ... it's not Sugar Ray Robinson either ... the greatest boxer of All Time is Floyd Mayweather -- according to Holly Holm.  The Ufc champ was leaving the Canelo vs. Cotto fight in Vegas this weekend when FightHype.com asked her about her run-in with Floyd at the Clippers game last week.  "It was awesome," Holm said ... before calling Mayweather the G.O.A.T. -- "He's the only that's ever been able to do it undefeated.

Adam Shankman

(photo: Getty)

It’s summer in New York City so that means it must be time for Trevor Live!

The semi-annual event (the Los Angeles show is held every December) is this Monday at the Marriott Marquis in the heart of Time Square and, as usual, the night will be a mix of entertainment, fund-raising (via a silent auction) and the important message of continuing support for at risk Lgbtq youth. The Trevor Project is the nation’s leading provider of crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

At Monday’s event, honorees include Arianna Huffington, who will receive the Trevor Hero Award, YouTube personality/advocate Tyler Oakley will receive the Trevor Youth Innovator Award. Goldman Sachs will also be honored with the Trevor 20/20 Visionary Award (to be accepted by Chief Information Officer Marty Chavez).

And then there’s the show itself,...

As I said in a previous entry, David Oyelowo is having a very good year!  After co-starring in Lee Daniels' The Butler, the 37-year-old thespian recently added the thriller Captive to his burgeoning slate of upcoming projects that also includes Cynthia Mort's Nina Simone film; starring as Sugar Ray Robinson in a previously-announced biopic; an indie drama titled Nightingale; reuniting with director Ava DuVernay to play Mlk in Selma; co-starring in Christopher Nolan's upcoming Interstellar; is said to have met with director Jj Abrams regarding a role in the upcoming Star...

The screenwriter of Basic Instinct and Flashdance talks about his feud with Gibson and other fights in his Hollywood career

At 68 years old, a survivor of throat cancer, and with only one produced screenplay to his name since 1997, Joe Eszterhas has done the unthinkable: he's become a scriptwriting teacher. Well, not exactly – he's on his way to London to deliver a headlining lecture at the London screenwriters' festival – but anyone who has even the smallest familiarity with his books will know the contempt in which he holds teach-yourself-screenplay-writing gurus such as Robert McKee.

"Wannabe screenwriters sorely lack getting the truth from these so-called scriptwriting teachers," says Eszterhas, his post-cancer voice gravellier than ever. "McKee is the perfect example: he's had one TV movie made, and yet he pontificates on how to write scripts." He also has beef (one that's been going for decades, it seems) with other big-name scriptwriters, accusing...

David Oyelowo is apparently having a very good year!  Currently co-starring in Lee Daniels' The Butler, the 37-year-old thespian can add Bn Films' thriller Captive to his burgeoning slate of upcoming projects that includes Cynthia Mort's Nina Simone film; starring as Sugar Ray Robinson in a previously-announced biopic; an indie drama titled Nightingale; reuniting with director Ava DuVernay to play Mlk in Selma; currently shooting Christopher Nolan's Interstellar; is said to have met with director Jj Abrams regarding a role in the upcoming Star Wars franchise reboot; and more...  Oyelowo has signed up...

David Oyelowo is one of those actors who's able to stay constantly busy, despite laments about the challenges black actors face.  Over the last 2 years, he's appeared in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, The Help, The Paperboy, Red Tails, Middle Of Nowhere, Lincoln, and more. Taking a look at his upcoming slate, he's an actor in demand, working on both sides of the Atlantic: look for him in The Butler, and Cynthia Mort's Nina Simone film; he's also attached to play Sugar Ray Robinson, as well as a found-footage-style hijacking thriller titled Default. There was the political thriller Complicit (it already aired in the...

Joyce Brothers, television psychologist and longtime newspaper advice columnist died today in New York City. She was 85. Her publicist tells media outlets she passed away after a long illness. The New York City native became famous in 1955 after winning The $64,000 Question game show on which she appeared as an expert on boxing. Her success on the show led her to become a color commentator for CBS during the boxing match between Carmen Basilio and Sugar Ray Robinson. In 1958 she was given her own advice show about relationships on a New York station and she went on to a succession of syndicated advice shows on both TV and radio over a four-decade long broadcasting career. She had a monthly column in Good Housekeeping magazine and began writing a syndicated newspaper column in the 1970s that, at its peak, was printed in more than 300 newspapers. Her TV credits include Saturday Night Live,...

Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece squeezes in the brilliance, the charisma and the paranoia of Jake Lamotta without chaining itself to every point of fact

Director: Martin Scorsese

Entertainment grade: A

History grade: A–

Jake Lamotta was boxing's world middleweight champion between 1949 and 1951.

Character

The film begins in 1941, with Jake Lamotta (Robert De Niro) fighting in the ring and fighting his first wife, Ida. It's shocking – though not as shocking as in an earlier draft of the screenplay, in which he was to be shown kicking and punching her while she was pregnant. The violence isn't out of keeping with that admitted in Lamotta's 1970 autobiography, also called Raging Bull, in which he says he once thought he had killed Ida in a drunken fight, and owns up to a catalogue of violent incidents against various people including a couple of sexual assaults. If anything, Lamotta's terrifying characterisation in the film has...

Heavyweight boxer, James Bond stuntman and bodyguard to Hollywood stars

The abiding memory that millions around the world will have of Nosher Powell, who has died aged 84, is of him fighting in vain to save his aeroplane after it had been attacked by a seagull in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965). Gert Fröbe may have been the German officer in charge of the plane but it was Powell who, as the stuntman and double, ended up in the water.

Powell's first appearance as a stuntman was in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He also had small roles in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and Cosh Boy (1953), with Joan Collins. In 1952 he was a boxer in Emergency Call, in which he fought the former world champion Freddie Mills. Powell had a decent if not outstanding boxing career himself, reaching No 3 in the British heavyweight rankings.

George Frederick Bernard Powell was born in Camberwell,...

De Niro joins cast for film about Us anti-corruption operation and signs up for role in boxing drama Hands of Stone

Robert De Niro is reuniting with director David O Russell, playing a character "connected to the underworld" in Russell's as yet untitled thriller about the FBI's Abscam operation, according to Empire magazine.

Russell's film Silver Linings Playbook earned De Niro an Oscar nomination for his performance as Bradley Cooper's gambling nut father; arguably his best in quite some time. It seems everyone on Slp is keen to work with the director again: Jennifer Lawrence, who won an Oscar for her role in the film, is on board, as is Cooper. They'll be joined by Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and comedian Louis Ck.

In the thriller, Bale stars as con man Melvin Weinberg, who – along with his partner Maxine Gardner (Adams) – was enlisted by FBI agent Jimmy Boyle...

Exclusive: If you love sports films like I do, here is one that has knockout potential. Robert De Niro and Edgar Ramirez have signed on to star in Hands Of Stone, a drama written and to be directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz. Boxing fans will know where we are going from the title. Ramirez will play champ Roberto Duran. De Niro will play his trainer Ray Arcel in a drama that focuses on how each man changed the life of the other. It is set during boxing’s Golden Era, when Duran was among top notch fighters including Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Hector Camacho, Vinny Pazienza. Duran fought them all and won 103 of his 119 fights. The focus will be on the Panamanian boxer’s incredible brawls with Leonard, culminating in an inexplicable ending of the famous fight where Duran quit in the ring and cried “No mas,” on...

Alas, the heart wants what it wants. And Michelle Williams' precious little heart spent a good amount of time wanting to be a boxer. Weird, right?Here's this thing she said recently:“Nobody in my family does anything in the film business. It wasn't that I had a special or remarkable passion [for film]. I was just one kid doing little plays. The only thing I remember wanting to be was a boxer and it went from boxer to actress. I wanted to box men, but that never happened. I wanted to be a heavyweight boxer. I wasn't interested in watching featherweight, welterweight. I grew up when Mike Tyson was the reigning champ. I watched all of his fights. And Sugar Ray Robinson and George Foreman. I was a tomboy when I was a kid."Girl, it's so weird that you wanted to be a big heavyweight boxer when you were little,...

David Oyelowo just landed himself an awesome role, playing Sugar Ray Robinson in a new biopic being developed by Moneyball producer Rachael Horovitz. The movie is based on the Wil Haygood biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson. Haygood also wrote a draft of the screenplay.

Oyelowo has had roles in several movies over the years such as Lincoln, The Paperboy, Red Tails, The Help, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Jack Reacher and more. This would definitely be his biggest role to date, and he seems like he's the perfect fit for it.

Sugar Ray Robinson was an American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight.

As of right now, there's no director attached. I'm a big boxing history buff,...

David Oyelowo is sticking with historical figures by moving on to a biopic about Sugar Ray Robinson following his upcoming role in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln."

The "Red Tails" actor has a number of exciting upcoming projects, including the Tom Cruise-starring "Jack Reacher" and Lee Daniels-directed "The Butler." But we're now particularly excited about the fact that Oyelowo is going to star as Robinson in the upcoming flick "Sweet Thunder," which is based on the Wil Haygood biography "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson."

This news comes at us from Deadline, who reports that Haygood wrote a script that "Moneyball" producer Rachael Horovitz and "Game Change" writer Danny Strong will produce. Oyelowo will also act as executive producer.

Apparently this all came together on the set of "The Butler." Strong wrote that movie with Daniels based on a Washington Post article Haygood had written...

The Wolverine

It looks like Famke Janssen will cameo as Jean Grey in the upcoming "The Wolverine". The "X-Men" actress reportedly shot her short appearance last week.

Filming on the project has been continuing apace in Sydney with shooting taking place in Surry Hills and around the Olympic Stadium's car parks. [Source: We Got This Covered]

Sisterhood of Night

Kara Hayward ("Moonrise Kingdom") has joined Caryn Waechter's teen drama "The Sisterhood Of Night".

Hayward will play a girl who exposes a secret society in her New Jersey suburb, leading to a witch-hunt in the town. [Source: Deadline]

Sweet Thunder

David Oyelowo ("Spooks," "The Help") will play iconic boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in a biopic based on the Wil Haygood's biography "Sweet Thunder". Rachael Horovitz ("Moneyball") and "Game Change" scribe Danny Strong will produce.

The film chronicles Robinson’s exploits, especially the early part of his career when he declined to get in bed with organized crime which controlled boxing.

After delivering the goods in fine style as part of ensemble casts or in supporting roles, we’re pleased to see David Oyelowo getting more attention from directors and now lining up leading roles. He’s attached to play legendary boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in a new biopic.The film, which Wil Haygood has adapted from his biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson, focuses on the titular boxing legend himself, long considered one of the best in the business. He met and bested Jake Lamotta six times in his career, among other highlights.The movie will likely chronicle Robinson's earlier days, when he spent too many nights watching lesser fighters in the ring because he refused to kowtow to the mobsters running the sport and throw fights. He was involved in helping to expose the darker corners of the business.This cinematic take on his...

Based on Deadline‘s report David Oyelowo is set to play iconic boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in the biopic Sweet Thunder.

An award-winning author and journalist and a national reporter for the Washington Post, Wil Haygood, author of ‘Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson’, brings the champion’s story, in the ring and out, powerfully to life against a vividly painted backdrop of the world he captivated. He also wrote a draft of the Sweet Thunder script.

This project was first announced almost exactly two years ago and it appears that the same team is still very much involved including Moneyball producer Racheal Horowitz and Game Change screenwriter Danny Strong.

No director is attached yet, but there is a rumor it might Lee Daniels be on the short list since Strong, Oyelowo and Haygood were brought together on Daniels’ The Butler, which is based on an...

Pencil in David Oyelowo’s name for a 2014 Best Actor nomination. (Via MovieWeb) David Oyelowo is set to play boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in the biopic Sweet Thunder, based on...

David Oyelowo has is set to play boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in a new biopic called Sweet Thunder. The film will be based on a Robinson biography written by Wil Haygood, and produced by Moneyball's Rachel Horovitz, Game Change writer Danny Strong and Oyelowo. Deadline reports that the project came together on the set of Lee Daniels's The Butler, in which Oyelowo stars and Danny (more)...

As David Oyelowo continues to stack up roles, it's only a matter of time before his breakthrough moment arrives. This fall he'll be familiar face to moviegoers with roles in Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy," Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and the Tom Cruise vehicle "Jack Reacher." And he's busy as ever, recently wrapping with Daniels on "The Butler" and currently filming the controversial Nina Simone biopic "Nina." But now he's lining up the kind of lead role that should definitely get him more notice. Oyelowo is set to play Sugar Ray Robinson in "Sweet Thunder." Based on the book "Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson" by Wil Haygood (who also wrote a draft of the script), the film will tell the story of the legendary boxer, particularly the early part of his career that found him trying to make strides in the sport, without getting mixed up in organized crime.

David Oyelowo is set to play boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in the biopic Sweet Thunder, based on Wil Haygood's biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson.

Wil Haygood wrote the first draft of the screenplay, with producer and writer Danny Strong looking to possibly do a second draft, depending on who the director is. Moneyball's Rachael Horovitz is also producing.

Sweet Thunder will follow Sugar Ray Robinson's exploits throughout his early career, and his refusal to get into the ring with organized crime, which cost him quite a few title bouts. The film will look at how the boxer helped expose the seedy underbelly of the organization, making it a more legitimate sport.

Sweet Thunder comes to theaters in 2014 and stars David Oyelowo.

Boxers like Jake Lamotta and Muhammad Ali have had their stories told on the big screen, and apparently now it's Sugar Ray Robinson's turn. A new biopic based on Wil Haygood biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson is now in development and it has been revealed that actor David Oyelowo is attached to star. Deadline says that the project comes from producer Rachael Horovitz (Moneyball) and screenwriter/executive producer Danny Strong (Game Change) and is currently using a script written by Haygood. They are currently searching for a director, and depending on who is found Strong could do a draft of the screenplay as well. Apparently Strong, Oyelowo and Haygood were brought together on Lee Daniels' The Butler, which is based on an article that Haygood wrote and Strong adapted (Oyelowo is starring in the movie as the titular character's son). Sugar Ray Robinson,...

• Nicholas Cage is in talks to star in what’s being touted as a more mainstream disaster film reboot of the faith-based Left Behind book and action-filled movie series about the End of Days and the Rapture. Paul Lalonde, who wrote and produced the original movies starring Kirk Cameron, and John Patus, who worked on 2005′s Left Behind: World at War, wrote the screenplay. Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins wrote the mega hit book series that launched the movies in 2001. No director is yet attached. [Variety]

• David Oyelowo (The Help, The Butler) is attached to play famed boxer Sugar Ray Robinson...

This is the same Sugar Ray Robinson project that we first announced almost exactly 2 years ago, October 7, 2010, on the old S&A site. At the time, no actor was attached. But based on Deadline's report, it appears that the same team is still very much involved - Moneyball producer Racheal Horowitz, Game Change screenwriter Danny Strong, to based on the Wil Haygood’s acclaimed biography Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson. By the way, Strong also wrote screenplay for The Butler, which David Oyelowo also stars in. Oyelowo is their man to play Sugar Ray Robinson; he will also executive produce. Sweet Thunder...

Exclusive: David Oyelowo is ready to play iconic boxer Sugar Ray Robinson in a biopic based on the Wil Haygood biography Sweet Thunder: The Life And Times Of Sugar Ray Robinson. Moneyball producer Rachael Horovitz and Game Change scribe Danny Strong will produce, and Oyelowo will be executive producer. Haygood wrote a draft of the script and depending on who the director is, Strong might come on and do a rewrite. All of this came together on the set of the Lee Daniels-directed The Butler, the film that Oyelowo stars in with Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker. Strong wrote that script, based on Haygood’s Washington Post article, and the three of them found the beats of the boxing movie. Sugar Ray Robinson is still considered arguably the greatest pound-for-pound boxer ever. That included the six brawls with Jake Lamotta was a big part of the Martin Scorese-Robert De Niro...

David Oyelowo, who stars in the upcoming Lincoln , has signed on to headline Sweet Thunder , an upcoming biopic of boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Based on Wil Haygood's biography, the film version was also adapted by Haygood and will be produced by Rachael Horovitz and Danny Strong. Published in 2009, Haygood's book is officially described as follows: Continuing to set himself apart as one of our canniest cultural historians, Wil Haygood grounds the spectacular story of Robinson's rise to greatness within the context of the fighter's life and times. Born Walker Smith, Jr., in 1921, Robinson had an early childhood marked by the seething racial tensions and explosive race riots that infected the Midwest throughout the twenties and thirties. After his mother moved him and his sisters...

With the Olympics, it can sometimes seem like America has a new sweetheart every single day of the week. So with that in mind, set your fangirl/fanboy squeeing to “High” and meet Claressa Shields, the 17-year-old female boxer from Flint, Michigan who might potentially be the first female boxing gold medalist…ever. Set to square off against Russia’s Nadezda Torlopova during today’s middle weight bout, Shields has the giddy enthusiasm of your average high schooler combined with the raw boxing talent of someone who could mash your face into paste without breaking a sweat. Those are only a two reasons we love Claressa, however. The rest include:

1. She’s as obsessed with the Olympic athletes as we are.

From Kobe Bryant to Missy Franklin, Claressa is all about the Olympic photo opp. A woman after our own heart! [Photo: Twitter]

2. She’s got Muhammad Ali-level swag.

Shields tweets...

The gloves are off as MGM, the studio behind the original Raging Bull, starts legal action to halt filming of a sequel

Those sceptical about the wisdom of making a belated sequel to Raging Bull may find some solace in the news that the Hollywood studio behind the original film is also fairly non-plussed. MGM, which owns the rights to Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning 1980 biopic, has filed a suit in a bid to halt production of the independent feature and ensure it never makes it into cinemas, reports Deadline.

The makers of Raging Bull 2 are believed to have secured rights from Jake Lamotta himself – the former boxer remains a fixture on the autograph circuit at the age of 91. The new film would be based on his 1986 book of the same name, not (as previously thought) the 1970 memoir that spawned Raging Bull. However, MGM says Lamotta is legally bound to give...

Follow-up to Martin Scorsese's biopic of boxing champion Jake Lamotta, which began filming this week, promises to take the viewer 'before the rage' and 'after the rage'

Good news for disappointed fans who staggered away from Raging Bull wondering what happened "before the rage" and "after the rage". Raging Bull 2 is on the way, providing both a prequel and a sequel to Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning biopic of boxing champion Jake Lamotta. Scorsese, on this occasion, is not involved.

Adapted, like the original film, from Lamotta's 1970 memoir, Raging Bull 2 promises to take the viewer "before the rage" and "after the rage". The film began shooting this week in Los Angeles, directed by Martin Guigui from a script co-written with Rustam Branaman. Newcomer Mojean Aria plays Lamotta in his youth, while William Forsythe stars as the legend in his anguished later years. The Movieline website reports that the production also...

We haven't heard about Grudge Match since October 2010.  It was an exciting time, when the rumor surfaced that the stars of the two greatest boxing movies of all time would face off as two retired fighters who step into the ring for one final match.  Robert De Niro vs. Sylvester Stallone---Raging Bull vs. Rocky.  Here in 2012, The Wrap confirms that De Niro and Stallone are in negotiations, and the production is tentatively scheduled to shoot early next year under director Peter Segal (Get Smart).  Even though Segal was tapped as a director, I don't think we knew this is a comedy before today.  But that's clear now that Warner Bros. hired Entourage creator Doug Ellin to write the most recent draft.  (Kind of.  Entourage wasn't funny, but it was nominated for Best Comedy Series three times, so Ellin is purportedly funny.  Let's focus on the talent in front of the camera.