De Niro and Stallone: Oldies but goodies in the boxing ring

The recently concluded Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2013 made history by raking in a record P943 million in 12 days.  Three of the top-five ranking films in terms of box office earnings were comedies. These were My Little Bossings, Girl Boy Bakla Tomboy, and Kimmy Dora: Ang Kiyemeng Prequel. With all the struggles the country had in the last few months of the year, most had turned to comic flicks from veteran comedians Vic Sotto and Vice Ganda for some yearend entertainment.

The comic trend continues as Warner Bros. Pictures presents a boxing comedy titled Grudge Match, starring movie legends Robert De Niro as Billy “The Kid” McDonnen and Sylvester Stallone as Henry “Razor” Sharp.  They portray two local Pittsburgh boxers whose fierce rivalry catapulted them to the national spotlight in a rematch 30 years after their last encounter. The movie, produced by Bill Gerber and directed by Peter Segal, recently started its local theater run.

The almost-was 1999 heavyweight rematch between Larry Holmes and George Foreman, when both were 50 years old, inspired screenwriter Tim Kelleher to come up with the idea for Grudge Match.  The dream Holmes-Foreman fight never materialized, but Kelleher couldn’t help but  think of all the retired great fighters who would love to box again if given the chance.  

So, the match is on, but how do you prepare men in their late 60s? Robert De Niro was born in 1943 while Sylvester Stallone was born in 1946.

De Niro trained with boxing trainer Robert “Bob” Sale, who worked with Stallone as technical advisor in Rocky Balboa.  He is based at the famous Fortune Boxing Gym in Los Angeles. “Sale hit the road to train De Niro and was blown away by the stamina and determination he saw in the veteran actor,” Warner observes.

“It was a 101-percent complete and utter sacrifice,” says Sale. â€œThe commitment Mr. De Niro brought was unwavering.  When I started to work with him, the plan was not to try to have him imitate a fighter, but to develop him as a fighter and let him take it from there for the performance.”

“De Niro undertook cardiovascular and strength training, changed his diet, and lost more than 35 pounds.  He was in a gym every morning at 5 a.m. training for an hour, followed by 45 minutes of boxing in the months before he started filming,” Warner notes.

“Bob’s a terrific trainer,” De Niro says of Sale.  “Sly’s worked with him for a long time so I knew he could get me into shape for the movie.”  The actor also worked with his own personal trainer, Dan Harvey, “trying to get the weight down.  It was grueling, but I think we succeeded.”

Stunt coordinator Kevin Scott offers, “For two men in their 60s to physically commit to spending eight to nine hours throwing punches, physically fighting under hot lights in a scorching arena as they had to in the fight scene, was amazing.  People may say, ‘Well, it’s not a real fight,’ but it’s just as demanding in a different way — the body mechanics, retaining all the fight moves and repetitive takes.  Additionally, there are hundreds of people standing around and the clock is ticking, so there’s a lot of mental duress and scrutiny.  That raises the stakes, too.”

Executive producer Kevin King-Templeton says the 67-year-old Stallone looks “the same as when I met him when he was 38. Physical fitness is a lifestyle for him.  It’s not, ‘I need to get in shape for this movie’; he keeps fit. That’s the key to his longevity.  He’s got an amazing work ethic.”

“Even so, for Stallone, preparing to enter the ring after seven years required changing his diet and workout routine.  He cut almost all carbohydrates to shed pounds and went on a diet of 95-percent protein, increasing cardio exercises with strength training to develop lean muscle mass.  Stallone also did exercises to bulk up his neck while letting his shoulders and upper arm muscles shrink so he and De Niro would appear to be in the same fighting class,” Warner adds.

“Bobby is lighter than I am, so I had to come down to 168 pounds.  I’ve not been there since 1981,” Stallone says. “For me that’s really thin.  I mean thin.”

 â€œSly has boxing in his heart; he could have been a professional boxer,” says Scott.  “He is an amazing technical boxer and is a fantastic on-screen fighter.  Just walking in a ring with Sly, having worked with him in rehearsals, was an absolutely magical experience.”

The director reflects, “I grew up in sort of what I call the golden age of heavyweights, and, to this day, I’m a huge fan.  I think historically, if you look at boxing movies, there is a romance to them.  There’s good and evil, pain, and exhilaration.  It’s a ballet of violence.  But it’s also a great metaphor for life — when you’re beaten down, can you get up again and keep fighting?”

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