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THE MOVIE: Fighting

THE STARS:
Terrence Howard • Channing Tatum • Zulay Henao
DIRECTOR: Dito Montiel

Terrence Howard’s
new movie Fighting is a gritty tale of two men headed for failure, until they cross paths on a New York street and realize each has exactly what the other needs for success. Howard portrays Harvey Boarden, a scam artist who recognizes the natural street fighting talents of Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) and begins to book him in bare-knuckle fights around Manhattan.

U.S. RELEASE: April 24 2009, Nationwide
• Rated: PG-13

THE COMMENTS:

How would you describe Harvey?:
He’s got a mean streak of morality running up his spine. Val Kilmer said as Doc Holliday in Tombstone, ‘My hypocrisy only goes but so far,’ Harvey’s hypocrisy only went but so far. He could cheat somebody on the street, he didn’t like fighting, and he couldn’t take a person’s life, but he didn’t help people live, so he’s at that strange place between good and bad where he’s not good, so he’s definitely bad, but doesn’t want to accept that he’s bad. He was not doing the right things, and that bothered him constantly, because he knew he was more decent than that.

What was working with Channing like?:
Channing reminded me of who I wish I was when I was 21. He’s in a great position and he’s still very light, he doesn’t carry any of his demons on his skin. It took me a long time to know to leave the demons inside of a refidgerator someplace, and thaw them out when you need them. He’s so free and he doesn’t have this big bag of badness with him. I love that about him. I think he’s going to be one of the most fantastic actors on the planet, by the end of 20 years playing the way he’s playing now. He’s got no ego whatsoever.

Do you think there will be a sequel?:
That would be interesting. I’d be interested in seeing what Harvey is like in the future. I haven’t delivered Harvey home yet, so I’m still kind of responsible for him until he gets home.

What happened with Iron Man 2:
Marvel happened with it. They took it and made a very bad choice. They did the same thing from what I’ve been told with almost everyone, I think, except Robert Downey Jr.

Will you see Iron Man 2?:
Yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to it. I want Don Cheadle to be better than me, and I think he can be. Don Cheadle is the reason I got on Crash, he was one of the producers, so Don has been good to me, he’s given me the greatest gift that I could ever imagine having, so anything I have I’ll share with him.

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

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Images above © Universal
Feature © 2009 Visual Imagination Limited.
Not for reproduction.

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