"Warrior" Bringing MMA Back to the Silver Screen

by Chris Nelson on Aug 13, 2008 2:40 PM EDT in MMA News

Entertainment trade paper Variety is reporting that director Gavin O'Connor has signed on with Lionsgate Films to direct and produce Warrior, "a mixed-martial-arts saga about two estranged brothers on a collision course to fight in a tournament for the heavyweight championship" which he also co-wrote. (Huh, sounds kinda familiar...)

Some more interesting bits via Movieweb:

The director conceived the drama as a potential trilogy, and Lionsgate will also be involved in a mixed-martial-arts tournament dubbed Sparta that will be launched in connection with the movie.

O'Connor has partnered in the 16-man grand prix tourney project with UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who will play himself in the film.

Casting for Warrior has begun, which is set to shoot January in Mexico and Pittsburgh.

Given that the two most recent big screen MMA films -- David Mamet's Redbelt and tweener fare Never Back Down -- were somewhat wide of the mark, this news might not exactly seem like cause for celebration. However, in addition to having directed the relatively enjoyable Olympic hockey flick Miracle and upcoming Edward Norton cop drama Pride & Glory, O'Connor was also an executive producer on the outstanding 2002 Mark Kerr documentary The Smashing Machine. So maybe, just maybe, this guy knows what he's doing.

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Hmmm.

So we are getting a mma movie, which actually sounds like it may have some potential to be decent. But…

Lionsgate is also getting involved in promoting a real-life mma tournament called Sparta? That sounds like a bad idea. Any idea who is behind this cleverly named tournament?

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Aug 13, 2008 3:28 PM EDT reply actions

My first thought was that SPARTA (oy…) would take place around the same time as the movie’s release to promote it, but now I’m thinking the tournament is where they’ll get some of the fight footage they use in the movie itself?

Either way, agreed, most likely a horrible idea.

by Chris Nelson on Aug 13, 2008 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m personally more attracted to an “epic” name like Sparta instead of some variation of Extreme.

by Simco on Aug 13, 2008 6:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Speaking of Redbelt...

TheHDRoom has a nice review of the Blu-Ray’s special features.

Feature-Length Commentary by David Mamet and Randy Couture – Davod Mamet has a story for just about everything that appears in the film and it’s fascinating to hear a “master” tell them. Couture, on the other hand, is really only good to chime in on fighting-related elements and takes a backseat to Mamet’s experience and clout.
Inside Mixed Marial Arts (18:52) – Mamet discusses his deep-rooted interest in Jiu-jitsu that dates back many years. Most intriguing is a history detailing the evolution of different fighting styles into Mixed Martial Arts via the UFC from the UFC’s president, Dana White.

An Interview with Dana White (16:53) – Dana returns and unfortunately a portion of what he says is the exact same footage from the Inside the Martial Arts featurette. There’s more to the Dana interview that appears here including an in-depth look at the UFC.

Fighter Profiles (4:11) – Offers quick data stats on the real fighters that appear in the film, both in fighting and non-fighting roles. It’s worth checking out whether you’re familiar or unfamiliar with the fighters to see where Mamet snuck guys in.

by Chris Nelson on Aug 13, 2008 5:51 PM EDT reply actions