Kim Basinger Joins ‘Grudge Match’

Who isn’t excited to see Jake LaMotta and Rocky Balboa go at it in the ring together? Sure, they’re really old… but it’s still those same awesome boxers we knew from long ago. Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone.

You may have seen Ms. Kim Basinger in Charlie St. Cloud or in the upcoming ‘Third Person’ by Paul Haggis. She is going to be playing the ‘woman in the middle’ which is often seen in films with two men who have a rivalry.

The film is about two retired boxers with a rivalry who are pushed into the ring for one last fight together. Sounds like the plot of Rocky 6 but times 2 ehh?

Peter Segal is set to direct, Doug Ellin writes, and Kevin Hart is also set to be the promoter for the fight who sees good money involved.

‘Grudge Match’ is expected to begin shooting sometime in 2013.

Raging Bull 2? Lets Be Real!

As I was just doing some research and trivia on my favorite movies, I came across the Raging Bull page and began reading. A related search was ‘Raging Bull II’. WHAT???? A Raging Bull Sequel? My first thoughts were  “Old Robert DeNiro? Martin Scorcese?” But to my suprise, none of them were listed as anything, cast or crew, in the movie. So I did some more research.

Apparently, Martin Guigui directed Raging Bull II already and it is in post-production. Well, MGM heard of this news that they were making a sequel to their 1978 hit movie, and were angered by this news. So they filed a lawsuit against the company and producers. When MGM bought the rights from Jake LaMotta himself to make his memoir into a movie, they also bought the rights to his unwritten sequel. So because of this, the producers and director of the so called ‘Raging Bull II’ changed the name to ‘The Bronx Bull’ and cut any ties of it being a sequel to Raging Bull or a continuation of the 1978 hit.

The director even spoke on the matter,

“I understand because it’s such an iconic, beautiful and amazing first film, one of the great films maybe of all time. But our story has a lot more heart and I think it’s a beautiful depiction of who Jake really is.” -Martin Guigi, director of ‘The Bronx Bull’

Martin Scorcese also talked about if a sequel was possible for him earlier this year.

“I don’t think I could revisit the material, as they say. I think we said what we had to say at that time. All of us moved on. Different aspects of the same story basically keep making the rounds. […] Rise and fall and self-destruction and the suffering and somehow coming through, in some cases. Coming through the suffering so that you change in a way. I don’t know. It’s dealing with yourself, really. Ultimately, at the end of ‘Raging Bull,’ he’s looking in a mirror and he’s at comfort with himself, to a certain extent. He’s not fighting, he’s not beating himself up. That’s all. So, I don’t know where they’re going to go.” -Martin Scorcese, director of ‘Raging Bull’

How can you just claim to be making a sequel to someone else’s movie? That’s pretty stupid. That’s like me saying I’m making Star Wars Episode 7. I mean come on, lets be real now.

‘The Bronx Bull’ is set for a 2013 release starring William Forsythe as Jake LaMotta.