Bruce Willis has signed on to play famed boxing trainer Cus D’Amato in the upcoming film Cornerman. The feature is said to be based on legendary boxing trainer Constantine ‘Cus’ D’Amato who at the reluctance to retire discovered some of the greatest boxing champions of the world including former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson. The film will begin shooting this fall.
The story is set in the 1980s New York, as it chronicles how D’Amato went from training some of the boxing world’s biggest champions to finding a 13-year-old Tyson after a friend brings Tyson to the retired trainer’s small gym. D’Amato enrolls the young athlete in order to help mold Tyson’s raw, powerful potential into champion-level skills. The role of a young Mike Tyson has not yet been cast.
Cornerman will be written, produced and directed by Rupert Friend (Homeland, The Death of Stalin, A Simple Favor) and Aimee Mullins for Circus Florist films and Marc Butan and Ara Keshishian of MadRiver Pictures. CAA is handling the U.S rights for the film.
According to Variety, this feature will mark the first lengthy movie directorial debut or Rupert Friend who said in a statement “Ultimately, this is a story about a deep love between two ferocious talents, each brave enough to admit their fears to the other, and so spur one another to greatness,” “It is a story about fighting for what you believe in, and a film that will make you question what strength really is.”
Unfortunately, Cus D’Amato didn’t get a chance to see Tyson make it to the top. The trainer died in 1985, more than a year before Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight title holder in history at the age of 20.
Willis is currently filming the sixth installment of the Die Hard franchise.
Source: Variety