‘The Featherweight’ Review: Robert Kolodny’s Debut Film Is as Agile as Its Irrepressible Protagonist
When the English soccer star Harry Kane finally decided to leave his childhood club Tottenham Hotspur and the Premier League this summer, much of England was up in arms. In doing so, Kane appeared to sacrifice his realistic attempt at breaking the division’s all-time goalscoring record. A couple more seasons, pundits said, would have done the trick. Immortality, and certainly a statue, would have come.
What Kane knows, and what his critics appear not to, is what really motivates elite athletes: not stats, glory. The same lust drives Willie Pep (James Madio), the titular featherweight boxer in Robert Kolodny’s nifty debut feature. Aged 42, Pep plots a comeback, six years after hanging up his gloves. Virtually all those around him, including trainer Bill Gore (Stephen Lang) and business manager Bob Kaplan (Ron Livingston), say this is a terrible idea. That his 220-10 win record, unheard of in the sport before or since,...
What Kane knows, and what his critics appear not to, is what really motivates elite athletes: not stats, glory. The same lust drives Willie Pep (James Madio), the titular featherweight boxer in Robert Kolodny’s nifty debut feature. Aged 42, Pep plots a comeback, six years after hanging up his gloves. Virtually all those around him, including trainer Bill Gore (Stephen Lang) and business manager Bob Kaplan (Ron Livingston), say this is a terrible idea. That his 220-10 win record, unheard of in the sport before or since,...
- 9/3/2023
- by Adam Solomons
- Indiewire
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions has teamed with Singapore’s Golden Ratio Films and Canada’s Blisspoint Entertainment to shoot “Pep,” a biopic of legendary mid-20th century featherweight boxer Willie Pep.
The film is poised to begin production in Hartford, Connecticut, Pep’s home-state, with Robert Kolodny directing from a screenplay by Steve Loff.
Pep, born Guglielmo Papaleo, had an extraordinarily long career spanning 26 years and nearly 2,000 rounds as a professional. Set in 1965, the film charts one of Pep’s comebacks, as he finds himself riddled with debt while supporting a wife half his age and a drug addict son in a single-family home.
“Band of Brothers” actor James Madio stars in the title role as Pep, alongside co-stars Keir Gilchrist (“Atypical”) who will play the role of Pep’s son, Billy Jr., and Ron Livingston (“Office Space”) as Pep’s business manager, Bob Kaplan. No female leads have yet been confirmed.
The film is poised to begin production in Hartford, Connecticut, Pep’s home-state, with Robert Kolodny directing from a screenplay by Steve Loff.
Pep, born Guglielmo Papaleo, had an extraordinarily long career spanning 26 years and nearly 2,000 rounds as a professional. Set in 1965, the film charts one of Pep’s comebacks, as he finds himself riddled with debt while supporting a wife half his age and a drug addict son in a single-family home.
“Band of Brothers” actor James Madio stars in the title role as Pep, alongside co-stars Keir Gilchrist (“Atypical”) who will play the role of Pep’s son, Billy Jr., and Ron Livingston (“Office Space”) as Pep’s business manager, Bob Kaplan. No female leads have yet been confirmed.
- 10/14/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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