Director Antoine Fuqua has just begun filming his latest boxing drama in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for The Weinstein Company titled Southpaw, and this week brings the start of a second significant step forward in acting with a co-starring role for former boxing champion and The Expendables 3 co-star, Victor Ortiz. The film is written by Richard Wenk and Sons Of Anarchy series creator Kurt Sutter, and casts Ortiz as “Ramone”, fellow up-and-coming boxer whose story will be attributed somewhat similarly to Ortiz‘s own life story leading up to his career as a WBC Welterweight champion until earlier this year.
Ortiz joins lead Prisoners co-star, actor Jake Gyllenhaal who himself leads the film as “Billy Hope”, a welterweight boxer rising in the ranks while his while his personal life falls apart. Actress Rachel McAdams and Star Wars VII cast member, award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, and actors Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson round out the current cast. The film was initially announced last year with hip-hop artist and actor Eminem as the lead before newly casting Gyllenhaal back in March.
Ortiz will appear in the upcoming theatrical release of The Expendables 3 from director Patrick Hughes on August 15 from Lionsgate. Meanwhile, Fuqua, has other films in the works, including Narco Sub from a script by David Guggenheim, a hopeful sequel to Wenk’s script for actor Denzel Washington’s upcoming appearance in the September 26, 2014 release of The Equalizer based on the original TV series, and the forthcoming theatrical remake production of The Magnificent Seven.
Stay tuned!
H/T: Deadline