photo of “Redbelt” courtesy of Renato Magno’s blog
Looks like there will be at least two movies on Mixed Martial Arts in 2008. One is called “Redbelt” and is directed by Tony- and Oscar-nominated writer/director David Mamet; the other is called “Never Submit.”
In “Redbelt” there are more recognizable Hollywood names, like Tim Allen, Joe Mantegna, and Rodrigo Santoro (“Xerxes” in “300”), plus UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s old buddy.
“Never Submit,” has Corey Sevier in the lead role — ummm, never heard of him — Ernie Hudson, known mostly for his role in Ghostbusters, and a host of MMA fighters, like Ken Shamrock, Josh Koscheck, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Mike “Quick” Swick, Nate Quarry and K-1 fighter Michael McDonald.
Renato Magno, who owns Street Sports Jiu Jitsu in California and has a role in “Redbelt,” wrote in his blog that “The LA Times recently ran a brief article about the movie Redbelt in which they point out the irony of an intellectual filmmaker like David Mamet acting as the catalyst that caused big Hollywood to recognize MMA and Jiu Jitsu as mainstream entertainment.”
I don’t know if either one of these movies will be another “Rocky” (just the first one) or a “Million Dollar Baby,” but hey, you never know. I’ll be watching to find out.
Here’s a link to more info. on each movie:
http://neversubmit.com
http://video.nbcsports.com/player/?id=109946
