Since the movie, "The Cinderella Man" was shown. would it be possible for a biopic made about Ezzard Charles?

Question

The information about "The Cincinnatti Cobra" is found on Yahoo, Google, various fight magazines, but in addition to that info, I "d like to see details about his private live and struggles(ie: reacting how he accididentally killed a man in the ring-how it affected during and after he was heavyweight champion-striving in two heroic attempts to regain the heavyweight title-dealing with his courageous fight against ALS during his last years.

Answer 1

I would love to see Ezzard Charles Biopic but the most Interesting storyline would be an exconvict turned a boxer, a boxer turned a contender, a contender who becomes the longest reigning Middleweight Champion, a champion who wins another Championships and become a Millionaire now helping the Up and coming boxers. Thats Bernard Hopkins Story

Answer 2

As someone who's obviously a huge fight fan and generally fascinated with the history of the sport I'd love to see an Ezzard Charles bio. Then again, I'd love to see a well done bio on any number of other fighters from the past.

Like the previous poster noted, it wouldn't be as easy to pitch the project as "Cinderella Man" due to the natural appeal of an "underdog story" and the easy to folow "career arc"--in other words, there's an apparent beginning and a "feel good" ending as Braddock (or Ruddock in the hypothetical biopic of his life) wins the big fight as a sizable underdog.

For the mainstream public, Ezzard Charles is sort of in a weird place--while most serious boxing fans know about him and the casual sports fan may have heard about him the mainstream public doesn't exactly consider him a household name like Ali. For an Ezzard Charles movie to get made--at least by a big studio--and to get wide distribution it would have to become the pet project of an "A list" actor or--like Jake LaMotta--an "A List" director. One problem is that even most of the "A List" black actors would have a problem pitching this film due to their body of work: obviously Will Smith played Ali, making it more problematic for him to get the green light on another boxing film. Jamie Fox played Bundini Brown in the Ali film. Denzel Washington played Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, making another boxing role a tougher sell. There may be other "A List" black actors who could singlehandedly get a project greenlighted, but I'm having a hard time thinking of them at the moment--at least guys who'd be able to play a heavyweight boxing champion.

A better route to the screen would be if this was a pet project of an "A List" director--not sure that Scorscese would want to do another boxing film but if, say, Steven Soderbergh (just as an example) got some sort of fascination with Ezzard Charles that might be the most realistic scenario of getting the film made.

Long story short--I'm with you, I'd love to see a well done bio-pic on Ezzard Charles. I'm not sure that the general public would share I'm enthusiasm, however, and that would make it tough to get a greenlight from a major film studio....

Answer 3

It could easily be a great story, but pitching a script about this wouldn't be as easy as pitching one on a fighter who was a 10-1 underdog to win the title, who goes out and does it. 50 years from now I think a biopic on Buser Douglas would probably have a better chance (since he faced similar odds) than one on Ezzard Charles does now.

I would like to see a biopic (or even a documentary) on Sam Langford myself, one of the best heavyweights who never held the championship.

Answer 4

Let me tell you something about life. Between Ezzard Charles and James Braddock, who do you think has the right complexion to have the right connection. If you don't know what I am talking about you better recognize.

Answer 5

But to the normal non boxing fan he may not get the same enthuisastic responses.