Hollywood looks for a new smash
The industry is hoping viewers get a kick out of mixed martial arts films like 'Never Back Down'
LOS ANGELES - Director Jeff Wadlow has been in some doozies. Metaphorically speaking, at least. He's been beat down, beat up, and just plain beat. But that's life. He's never been in an actual physical altercation. Still, he understands the appeal.
"There's something so primal about fighting," said Wadlow. "You're tested in the moment. It's a terrible thing to get hit in the face; now what are you going to do about it?"
The impossibly cut actors in Wadlow's new movie are all about the fight, and mixing it up any way they can: boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, among other fighting arts. Wadlow insists the appeal of the aptly named "Never Back Down," which opened Friday, is in the main character's internal struggles. But it's his external acumen that the audience will likely judge. The mixed martial arts crowd takes its fights - and fighters - seriously, and now the movies want in on some of that attention.
Ten years or so after a television episode of "Friends" mocked ultimate fighting, with Monica's millionaire boyfriend facing off against a monster of a man, the sport is well on the way to mainstream recognition. Fights are already a staple of cable TV and pay-per-view, and soon they will go network, as CBS recently announced plans to broadcast bouts on Saturday nights.
The sport's popularity among 18-to-34-year-old men hasn't escaped the notice of Hollywood, for whom that demographic is a prime target. It's not yet a Hollywood trend, but it may well become one - if the audience for the sport keeps expanding. Thus, "Never Back Down," which follows "Beyond the Ring," which starred Gary Busey and was savaged by critics and fight fans alike. Coming next is "Redbelt," from writer-director David Mamet, which is less surprising than it might seem given his personal devotion to martial arts training.
"Fighting is part of our DNA," said Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White, who gets stopped by male and female fans alike who recognize him from his role on Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show. "When you talk about movie appeal, too, this is the one sport that crosses all cultural barriers, all language barriers.
"Nothing is bigger in the US than the NFL. But try to sell that in Europe and nobody cares. I take two guys and put them in an octagon and they can use any martial art they want and people get it. Men want to be fighters and women want to be with them."
Actor Djimon Hounsou, who plays the sage but seriously skilled trainer in "Never Back Down," sprained ankles, banged elbows, and bruised his back training for the role. As someone who practiced kung fu, boxed, and sometimes brawled as a skinny boy, he says he also gained an appreciation for the artistry and the inherent made-for-the-movies drama involved in every fight. "Part of the appeal with this type of sport is that a lot of young men and women who don't look like they could fight are the most dangerous ones," he explained. "They are skinny and don't really look like a brawler and they're really the ones who could teach you a lesson. People like to see that happen."
Of course the teenagers in "Never Back Down" are all hard bodies, either shirtless (the guys) or clad in bikinis (the girls). The fighters in "Redbelt," scheduled for an August release, are adults, and, as in most fight films, there's a will-the-hero-fight/will-he-triumph motif.
Renato Magno, the owner and head instructor at Street Sports Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in Santa Monica, Calif., where Mamet trains, has worked on movies and TV shows for years now, including "Redbelt," naturally, for which he served as fight choreographer and technical consultant.
In an e-mail interview he said he designed individualized training plans for the actors who played fighters, including Chiwetel Ejiofor ("American Gangster"). "They lived, breathed, and slept jiu-jitsu," Magno said, able to "enjoy the process and understand the laid-back Brazilian way of life."
Because Mamet is a real Brazilian jiu-jitsu apprentice, "the actors were immersed in the reality of a genuine Brazilian Academy," Magno added. "The fight scenes were bloody and real and we had the best cameraman who was able to overcome the difficulties of filming real grappling."
Wadlow, the "Never Back Down" director, doesn't have Mamet's fighter cred. He said he was intent on mastering mixed martial arts if the movie got the go-ahead, but then found he didn't have time for a single training session.
Indeed, he said his movie aims to reach more than the blood-and-bruises crowd, telling the story of a young man who recently lost his father and has to find himself in a new city where his mother moves the family.
Think "Fight Club" meets "Karate Kid" meets "The O.C." except that it's set in Orlando.
For all the fighting in "Never Back Down," and there's plenty, the movie is surprisingly bloodless. No one is beaten to a bloody pulp, a la Brad Pitt in "Fight Club." More than anything else, what flies off these gleaming bodies is sweat. The more they fight, the prettier they look. Afterward they clean up nicely.
Hounsou is there to guide the hero, although Wadlow is quick to emphasize that he's no Mr. Miyagi from the "Karate Kid." He's a fighter with a philosophy rather than the other way around.
While in amazing physical shape at 43, Hounsou admits that "Never Back Down" was hard on him. He says he needs a rest before he could consider another fight movie, although he wouldn't mind one coming along.
Hounsou might get his chance. The UFC's White says his organization has been approached numerous times about making a mixed martial arts movie. But it hasn't been the right time, the right people, the right script.
"We want this thing to be real; we wanted it depicted like it is," White said. "Seriously, the fight culture is a lifestyle. It's a community, the people who train, the people who are into it. But it's all kinds of people now. It's not a niche thing anymore. We've had senators, congressman, doctors, lawyers, Wall Street guys get into fighting. Women, too."
Somewhere, there's a movie in that. 