Raging Bull 2 has begun shooting

Some films in life, don’t need a sequel. Movies such as Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Tropic Thunder and Police Academy 3. Then you get those films who happen to be on the receiving end of the sequilitus stick, such as The Mask, Sex & the City and The Fast and the Furious 2-5.

It might be too soon to lump Raging Bull into one of those categories, but one thing is for certain, as right now, it’s begun shooting that second round rematch with the box office.

Martin”I don’t even have a Wikipedia entry” Guigui is helming the film, which will be a combination of prequel and sequel. The original Martin Scorsese cult favourite film, for those unfamiliar with it, centred on legendary Middleweight boxing champion Jake Lamotta, and his battles both in and outside the ring, and was adapted from his autobiography of the same name.

William “Boardwalk Empire” Forsythe will be portraying the older pugilist this time around, with Mojean Aria practicing the sweet science as the younger version of the hot-headed bull, in events seperate and before the Scorsese film, which starred Robert Deniro as the fisticuff focused brawler.

Written by Guigui and Rustam Branaman, the film will also star Joe Mantegna, Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Alicia Witt,Ray Wise, Harry Hamlin, Bill Bellamy and James Russo, according to Variety.

As for Scorsese himself, it might be a good thing that he isn;t back behind the camera, as he recently admitted when queried about the sequel that “I really don’t know what Raging Bull II would be.”

The LA based film is shooting right now. If you have yet to see the award winning film or read the actual book from Lamotta, here’s a synopsis from the publisher that describes the sequel;

Raging Bull II is a continuation of the Jake La Motta story. When Robert De Niro won an Academy Award playing Jake in a film made from the book, La Motta’s life brightened as he shared the limelight with De Niro.

Since then he has gone through fortunes, been wealthy and flat broke, and married again in addition to his first five marriages, which ended in divorces before, the film was produced. La Motta now lives with Theresa Miller, his sixth wife. In her he believes he has finally found a marital state that will endure for the balance of his life.

All of the conflicts, the fights and the terrors, which have been part and parcel of La Motta’s life, are in these pages. The book takes a sharp look at the real Raging Bull, both as the controversial ring gladiator and as the older, wiser philosophically entertaining performer he has become.

In the ex-fighter’s own words, “this time [he] has fought not to be a champion gladiator but to become a champion human being.

I’m a massive fan of boxing films, and Raging Bull in particular, and even though I’m cautiously optimistic that the well cast sequel is in production,  it’s going to be several weightclasses below the original heavyweight champion that put such genre films in all new territory back in 1980.

 

Last Updated: June 18, 2012