Hoffarth on the media: ‘Chuck’ continues the Wepner story, blow by blow

Chuck Wepner, a not-so-great white hope in boxing lore, can at least hold out hope that a two-for-one deal in how his life story has been told may be more than just a sidebar from what Sylvester Stallone strategically borrowed to create an Oscar-winning feature film some 40 years ago.

Liev Schreiber appears on the big screen portraying Wepner in the new movie “Chuck,” which launches in two L.A. and two New York theatres this weekend with plans for an expanded distribution nationwide by Memorial Day. It comes a knock-down, drag-out six years after an ESPN’s “30 For 30” documentary called “The Real Rocky” made its TV run (and still available on Amazon Films for $4.99 a watch).

This unique double feature, spearheaded on both ends by well-versed documentarian and film producer Mike Tollin, was supposed to happen on a tighter timeline. But the ultimate purpose of the multi-media approach is to give each audience what it professes to want – a sports doc for ESPN, then a based-on-a-true-story drama for movie-goers who don’t want to feel confined by the trappings of a “boxing film” genre that ironically is what led to the success of Stallone’s “Rocky” franchise.

“It’s been an epic journey, but really it’s a confluence of events – the ESPN documentary raised the profile of the Wepner story, with all those interviews we did, and then this script was also done to propel this forward,” said Tollin, the San Fernando Valley-based producer of sports films such as “Varsity Blues,” “Radio” and “Coach Carter,” as well as the HBO doc “Kareem: Minority of One” and ESPN’s miniseries “The Bronx is Burning.”

Tollin, who teamed with Peter Guber to launch Mandalay Sports Media as a company to champion a new way of getting scripts made into movies at a more lean-and-mean cost, is also partnered with IFC Films and Millennium Films to get “Chuck” to the finish line.

THEY BLEED FOR THIS

For several years, as backers for the independent film came and went, the story was pitched as “The Bleeder: The Untold True Story of the Real Rocky.” But Tollin said a newer round of test audiences gave them a fresh look at it – make it less about sports, more light-hearted retro ’70s aura like “American Hustle.” One reviewer has already called it “The ‘Goodfellas’ of boxing movies.”

“We ultimately didn’t want this promoted as much as a ‘boxing film’ because there have been a number of them lately and we wanted to avoid that genre,” said Tollin, not even having to note “Hands of Stone” on Roberto Duran, “Bleed For This” on Vinny Pazienza and even “Creed,” another “Rocky” spinoff in 2015.

“This is really about a man’s relationships, his downward spiral, and ultimately his redemption. After the test screening by IFC, we found that people who knew nothing about boxing loved the story of Wepner as a man, a character, and the title would be too much of a misdirection or a distraction.”

As it turns out, the only real fight scenes are in the first third of the film. The rest is Wepner being Wepner, after his fame faded.

“The Bleeder” is actually a shortened version of Wepner’s nickname, “The Bayonne Bleeder,” after the tough New Jersey town where he learned to fight and became a club boxer/bouncer before turning pro.

His career highlights: A three-round loss to George Foreman, the need for 72 stitches after a loss to Sonny Liston, an upset over former heavyweight champ Ernie Terrell and then his 15 rounds of fame in an epic opportunity to take on Muhammad Ali in Cleveland in 1975 – Wepner signed for $100,000, while Ali was guaranteed $1.5 million.

Wepner scored a ninth-round knockdown. That woke up Ali, who finished him off with 19 seconds left in the 15th and final round with a TKO.

Strike up the trumpet section.

Wepner eventually sued Stallone for the similarities of his career to the script and received an “undisclosed settlement.” Stallone, who appeared in the ESPN doc, also gave Wepner a role in a “Rocky” sequel. The result of that arrangement is all chronicled in “Chuck” in the spirit of Wepner’s 6-foot-5, bigger-than-life persona.

And after all that, this new film seizes on the tagline: “You know Rocky, now meet Chuck.” So it’s payback time.

SCHREIBER ROLLS WITH THE PUNCHES

After its debut at film festivals in Venice and Toronto to get the film on path to distribute before the onslaught of the summer season, “Chuck” was embraced at the Tribeca Film Festival last weekend in New York and had a screening in Hollywood last Tuesday.

Wepner, 78, has been making appearances with Schreiber, the 49-year-old who acknowledges that had the film been delayed any longer he might not be up for the boxing scenes or the two-hour process in the make-up chair to put on the prosthetics.

Schreiber, with production and writing credits in “Chuck” after having been involved with the script the last 10 years, said he is ultimately fine with a change in the movie title and strategy.

“I understand it – there are people much smarter than me who felt it would introduce the film to the right demographic,” said Schreiber, the “Ray Donovan” star who played in a sports-movie heavy before as a notorious brawler in the 2011 hockey comedy “Goon,” as well as the sequel that came out earlier this year.

“I think there’s absolutely a sports story at the heart of this, but it feels to me like ‘Rocky’ didn’t handle it all from the fiction perspective. There’s the metaphor of the boxer rising to the occasion through punishment and a personal victory. I think in ‘Chuck,’ there is still the incredible resiliency he had, an obsession and competitive quality that some great athletes have and most people don’t understand.

“Some super great athletes are driven by this compulsive behavior, but what was fascinating for me was how Chuck came to self-realize he wanted more, and he wanted to tell his story. I loved ‘The Bleeder’ because it was symbolic of what Chuck was willing to go through, for his audience. He took the punishment as far as he could and that’s where it becomes really compelling.

“But then, Chuck’s love story with his wife, Linda, and his eccentricity – that ‘Rocky’ hook is just a wonderful side dish to the main course.”

As it turns out, “Chuck,” gaining traction at the Archlight Cinema in Hollywood and Landmark in West L.A., has already made it onto one list of the “Greatest Boxing Films of All Time.” Sometimes, you just know what passes the glove test.