A sharp-dressed man in a tailored black suit, noodling on an
acoustic-electric guitar, Terrence Howard bears no resemblance to
Harvey, his two-bit hustler character in "Fighting." Howard's sharply drawn portrait of a street-fighting coach who takes
one more chance on a young street fighter (Channing Tatum) is one of
the film's strengths. Howard said he chose the film after being
impressed by director and co-writer Dito Montiel's Sundance Film
Festival hit debut, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," which also
starred Tatum.
Q: I know this will sound bad, but I was surprised how good "Fighting" is. There's a level of detail you don't expect in this genre. The extras casting is great; the location scouting is great.
A: A lot of directors will make the mistake of giving their child to a babysitter way too early. Dito made sure his baby stayed in his hands. He set up the play dates and the friends at the play dates, made sure they were trustworthy and telling the same story.
This film is a beautiful, beautiful walk on that journey from "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints." I think every director is still telling the same story, just from different perspectives. Look how many sci-fi films Steven Spielberg has made - always about something from the unknown, coming. He's still trying to understand some vision that was shared with him a long time ago. Every director is trying to reflect some light that was shared with them, I think.
Q: I liked Harvey.
A: Harvey is the broken nature when you refuse to fix the pieces, when you refuse to tie up your shoelaces. No matter how many times he trips over them, he refuses to tie them. So he's forever slumping his way through the city and never able to pick up any momentum because he can't keep his feet beneath him. That was a dark place to live, as that character; someone who no longer believes in his own reflection. CONTINUE READING...
