Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale made their final promotional push of their Micky Ward biopic with this week’s ring-themed Sports Illustrated cover.
The Fighter open this Friday (December 17). Critics and fans have been buzzing following six Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Mark Wahlberg), two for Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams, Melissa Leo), Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), and Best Director (David O. Russell).
The cover is a big achievement for Wahlberg and Bale. According to TV Guide, they join only a handful of non-athletes to grace the magazine’s cover, including Ed Sullivan and Stephen Colbert. Even with the “non-athlete” tag, both actors went through tough training regimens to become their subjects. Mark Wahlberg trained for four years to mold his physique into a fighter. And Christian Bale had to run several miles a day to burn off muscle become slim enough for his Eklund role.
The Fighter movie trailer can be viewed HERE.
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Despite the ebbs and flows of boxing’s mainstream popularity, history has shown that boxing movies with skilled actor do very well. And not just well in the commercial sense. Several of these movies become critically acclaimed, like Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby. Even a flawed movie like Ali earned Will Smith an Oscar nomination.
Like many of you, I’ll be checking this out over the weekend. With a Sugar Ray Robinson film in the works, boxing’s representation on the big screen is progressing well. What other fighters would you like to see get their stories told?
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 