When your pitch for a film is “Rocky meets robots,” you should stop and reconsider things. There’s no way that a film with that undercurrent should get off the ground. That is, unless you have Hugh Jackman and Steven Spielberg on your side. With those names in your toolbelt, you could probably raise the dead.
Spielberg and Stacey Snider will be producing Real Steel under their Dreamworks label, for Hugh Jackman to star. Hack director Shawn Levy will direct the film under an $80 million budget. When you can direct The Pink Panther and still have this sort of moolah stuffed in your pocket, I weep for the world.
According to Variety,
“[Real Steel] centers on a fighter who has to reinvent himself when human boxers are replaced by robots. Jackman will play a struggling Robot Boxing promoter who finds a discarded robot that always seems to win. He also discovers he has a 11-year-old son, and they bond as the robot brawls its way toward the top.”
Gross. Am I wrong here? Missing some hidden potential beyond Jackman’s obvious talent? Let me know.
Regardless, production will start in June of 2010.
Hugh Jackman is such brilliant actor (I recently saw him in 'A Steady Rain' and he was amazing) who wastes his enormous talent in lousy movies. Let's hope Real Steel will be good.
I saw a Steady Rain too, and Hugh was terrific. Let's hope the movie is good. It could be. In any case, I'll see it because of Hugh, and Spielberg.
If Levy´s name wasn ´t attached, I would think this is an original and great idea. I think Spielberg will watch over this project and Hugh is in it. So I am in. But if Levy drags Hugh to another of his lousy movies, I am going to kick his ass…seriously…;-)
I have no doubt that this is going to be fantastic.