Bleed for This is the incredible true story of Vinnie “The Pazmanian Devil” Pazienza. He is a world champion boxer who was left in a spine halo after a near-fatal car accident that had him, his family and his fans wondering if he would ever walk again. The inspirational tale comes to us starring Miles Teller as Pazienza, Aaron Eckhart as his brilliant coach Kevin Rooney, Katie Sagal as Paz’s mother Louise.
We caught up with those three stars, as well as the film’s writer-director, Ben Younger (Boiler Room), to talk about the extraordinary effort it took to bring this story to the screen and how for so many, this wasn’t just a boxing story.
Younger didn’t want to even try to make a film that compared to any boxing film prior. With Raging Bull and so many others in that canon, why even attempt that thankless task.
“From a purely technical perspective, I didn’t think I was going to match or top anyone, we had one day to shoot each of the fight sequences, so that wasn’t even on the table although I think we did pretty good, certainly as far as the way that it looks. The difference between our film and every other boxing film as far as I know is that most films when someone throws a punch and you have to time the head turn,” Younger said.
“We had contact, always contact so our fight choreographer worked it out so that the gloves would be pressed against the person getting hit but there was always glove to glove. And we never used a stunt double, not for one single shot.”
Teller, a lifelong boxing and MMA fan, found his marveling for those who compete in this tough-as-nails sport grow ever higher after diving into the role.
“It was less an appreciation of actors and just more for actual boxers. Like we get to do it and we get all the glory and stuff but I’ve always had respect for fighters, some of my buddies are MMA guys, I follow MMA more than I follow boxing but I’ve always known that if I’m gonna go through a fight camp, that is going to be just the toughest challenge I’ve ever went through and those guys are fighters because they can’t do anything else. All they know how to do is fight. That’s what they tell you. If you can do anything else in your life, do it. Because this is going to be so hard and why would you want to fight for a living? So for me it was not so much for the actors, but just actual boxers, the respect just kinda grew,” Teller said.
“I was very excited to play a boxer. I didn’t know I would get that opportunity at that point.”
The real Paz visited the set and it was a powerful experience for all those involved, including the man himself. “He was crying, and not at the parts you would think. He was crying at the dinner scenes around the table, because his parents aren’t around,” Teller said. “It was very touching for Vinny. I’ve gotten to talk with him about it, and that means everything.”
Eckhart and his performance are garnering Oscar buzz. It is unlike anything you have ever seen from the veteran actor. He credits much of his success to Younger, but especially his co-star. “The trainer-fighter relationship is sacred, there’s so much trust; it’s so dangerous. It’s so vulnerable that you have to have total trust there and the stakes are at the highest level. I have to make Miles look at me like I have the keys to kingdom,” Eckhart said.
“As a supporting actor, your job is all about defining your hero, and so very early on, Miles would be in the gym with his trainer choreographing fights and I would come and I would just sit there, and all of a sudden I just picked up the water bottle and started watering miles and started toweling him off, then I would start telling him what to do. As an actor I create my job right off the bat, so nobody gives Miles water but me, nobody towels Miles off but me, nobody massages Miles but me — that way when we’re in the movie. It’s just so natural that he just expects me to give him water and when I come to him he opens his mouth. It’s not like now I’m going to come to him and he opens his mouth, that’s too late, we’ve ruined the reality.”
Younger took off 10 years between his last film and Bleed for This and felt some existential connection to the boxer. “Vinny won 50 fights and I’m sure to real boxing aficionados that would be an exciting thing. I’m not one of them. For me it was all about the crash and the comeback,” the helmer admitted.
The helmer feels that Bleed for This is a make it or break it movie for him… especially considering his long sojourn. “If you don’t make a movie for twelve years, you don’t have a choice. If I didn’t nail this one it was game over,” Younger said.
Casting helped make it less of a risk. In many ways, he took a chance on Teller. “I hired him pre-Whiplash. I just loved him in Spectacular Now. Even in his other mainstream, commercial stuff, you can see moments where you go ‘wait a minute, what was that,’ combined with the fact that he’s just not a pretty boy. With Aaron, it was about finding someone who was respected and was a great actor, and make them unrecognizable.”
In the words of Sagal, who portrays Vinny’s mother Louise, she believes audiences will identify with the film because it leaves you thinking that as long as you work hard, the sky is the limit.
“What I think is so wonderful about the film is that against all odds, here you have a person that wills his way into what he really believes is his path in life,” Sagal said. “To me, any kind of human story like that where you do the impossible really opens us all up to what’s possible.”