You cannot have a movie called Fist Fight and not give audiences a massive brawl at some point. There has to be a payoff, even if the film is a fall-out-of-your-seat comedy starring the always hilarious Charlie Day and a surprisingly amazing straight man in Ice Cube.
We caught up with the stars of the film, as well as supporting star Tracy Morgan and director Richie Keen, at a recent press day and found out the scoop on their new R-rated comedy that breaks a few molds (and maybe a number of bones, too!).
“I had a week of training where they had to show me how to make a fist without breaking my thumb,” Day admitted. “I’m not going to lie, it’s been over a year since we shot it and my leg still hurts. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.”
Getting ready for the shoot was serious business. Everyone involved wanted the payoff fight to be as real as possible. “I trained with a guy named Eves Edwards,” Day added. “I almost got completely knocked out during the training. So I have a lot of respect for those UFC guys and I would never want to do it, ever.”
Cube, on the other hand, is no stranger to throwing a punch or two and brawling in his movies. He’s been doing it since he was in Friday. “I have been doing fight sequences in movies for a while. And when you do one with Tom “Tiny” Lister, you learn to get out of the way. So I learned early on to learn the choreography. It keeps you from getting accidental black eyes because they don’t look good on film,” Cube said. “From doing the movie Friday, I just learned to concentrate and do the dance.”
That gut busting and yes, hilarious, Fist Fight, took quite a lot of filming time and Cube and Day could not be more happy that they never have to do that again. “After eight days of shooting the fight scene we were tired,” Cube said. “[We] wondered if we were ever going to be funny again. But we needed an epic fight at the end.”
Director Keen (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) was drawn to the gig for many reasons. Most of all, it was working with Tracy Morgan on his first movie role after the accident that almost claimed his life.
“It’s something that I feel truly honored to be a part of,” Keen said. “When I wanted Tracy for the role, he hadn’t been on TV yet. So there were questions, ‘Can he walk? Does he have brain damage? Is he healthy?’ Then I got on a Skype call with Tracy.”
Within moments, he knew Tracy’s ever-sharp comedic wit was completely intact.
“Tracy [was] asking, ‘Who’s Captain Kirk’s best friend?’ To which I replied, ‘Spock.’ ‘No, it ain’t Spock. Spock calls him Captain. You don’t call your best friend Captain! Bones says ‘Damn it, Jim’ so Bones is his best friend.’ Then I was like, ‘He’s fine. He’s ready to go back to work.'”
The moment finally arrived for Morgan’s official return to funny business on a football field on the Fist Fight set. For Keen, it was life experience he will never forget. “I realized this was the first time someone was going to call ‘action’ since his accident,” he said. “And this is a guy who didn’t know if he was going to get up again, let alone be funny and get to act. So, I told him, ‘I got you. You’re going to be great!’ And he was. I am so grateful to be a part of his first project back.”
For Morgan it’s been a long time coming since that fateful night on an East Coast freeway where a Wal-Mart truck almost took his life. “There was a lot of funny in me. I was on the couch for a year after that Wal-Mart truck hit me so I had to let it all out and this was the perfect movie to do that,” Morgan said. “I was so scared the first day because I didn’t know if I was funny or not after what I had just been through.”
Morgan then stated something that we felt was truly profound. “I just hate when people call this a comeback,” Morgan added. “I never left.”
The SNL vet credits his co-star for getting him mentally ready to dive back into the comedy pool. “Cube is like a brother to me and he encouraged me and relaxed me so I just had fun after that. I am proud to be of service to people when I make them laugh,” Morgan said. “Wal-Mart can’t stop me. I didn’t know if I was ever going to walk again. So to come in and do my first film with Cube and Day, it feels good. Y’all better buckle up because we got a winner here.”
The director knew he had a firecracker on his hands… so he always kept the camera rolling when Morgan was in a scene. “I knew he would say the words from the script and then there would be four or five takes afterward. Some would make no sense, and some would be the funniest things I had ever heard in my life,” Keen said.
“When Richie said ‘Cut,’ that’s when I relaxed and did my thing,” Morgan added. “When I hear ‘Cut,’ that’s when I get going.”
For the final word, we turn to Morgan. In one sentence, describe Fist Fight. “This movie is like a cross between Welcome Back Kotter and Law and Order.”
Nailed it.