Real Steel. Featurette for the adaptation of Richard Matheson’s Twilight Zone, Starring Hugh Jackman.

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Well there’s one thing we should be able to count on in Real Steel; with Sugar Ray Leonard choreographing the boxing and real boxers motion captured for the fight scenes, this should look authentic. Well as authentic as any film with robot boxing could look until we invent the real thing.

Richard Matheson’s most famous work is probably still I Am Legend, not least because it has been filmed three times; (The Last Man on Earth in 1964, with Vincent Price; The Omega Man in 1971 with Charlton Heston; I Am Legend in 2007 with Will Smith). But Matheson has written a staggering number of short stories and scripts including the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s Duel, one of the best episodes of the Original Star Trek and 14 episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV series. It is one of those stories, Steel, that this film is based.

In the year 2020 Robots have replaced humans in the boxing ring and the sport (now a game) has grown massively in popularity. Outside of the authorised big events there are, naturally, underground events. It is here that we find Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) and the story begins.

Official Synopsis...

“A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, Real Steel stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.”

Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Kevin Durand and Anthony Mackie star in the film which is directed by Shaw Levy (Date Night, Night at The Museum). The film does appear to ave been lightened i tone from the darker ‘Steel’ story, and only time will tell if that is a successful strategy.  It’s due for release on the 7^th of October (14^th in the UK)

Featurette...

Trailer...