Its been many, many months since Lowellians have seen those big movie trailers and bright spotlights. We got a little pampered for a while there with the downtown filming of Ricky Gervais‘ indie comedy The Invention of Lying, followed closely by the Mark Wahlberg – Christian Bale big budget film The Fighter, which has had to contend with its own share of left hooks and headbutts. To his credit, Wahlberg has completely embraced the project, and true to his welterweight training has fought hard to land the film a dedicated studio. According to movie buzz in the New York Times, the job has gone to Paramount, who will begin heavy promotion of the film during the fall football/sports season in anticipation of its December 10 release. The holidays marks Hollywood’s big push to the Oscars, so we should expect to see a bold lineup of films coming to DVD or to the cinema with heavy promotion leading the way, The Fighter included.
Second in line to direct The Fighter behind Darren Aronofsky (Lost, The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream), director David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) commanded a tight ship, pushing actors to their emotional limits to fulfill his vision of Micky Ward‘s and Dicky Eklund‘s remarkable story. Unlike The Invention of Lying, shot almost entirely in Lowell but nothing ABOUT Lowell, The Fighter will put the Mill City at center stage, and we’re pretty darn excited about that.
Below are some one-minute clips found amongst the many Fighter teasers and interviews in the YouTube world. Some good footage also exists of Ward and Eklund, courtesy of the Lowell Sun.
Mark Wahlberg training in the ring:
Lowell fighters audition for The Fighter:
lowellfilmcollaborativema.org 