A new Miles Teller boxing drama, “Bleed For This,” about underdog boxer Vinny Paz, has been bought for $4 million by indie distributor Open Road at the Cannes Film Festival.
CAA and WME showed footage to buyers at Cannes on Friday and several bidders were in the mix, but Open Road — which successfully released last year’s “Nightcrawler” — won out.
Vinny Paz, who boxed under the nickname of “The Pazmanian Devil,” is a former American boxer and World Champion in the Lightweight, Jr. Middleweight, Middleweight and Super Middleweight weight classes. He was also the United States Boxing Association’s Jr. Middleweight Champion. He made a startling comeback after a car accident.
From Wikipedia:
Shortly after winning the Jr Middleweight World title, he was forced to vacate it when he was involved in a serious car accident in which Pazienza suffered a broken neck. The Doctors told him he may never walk again and certainly would never fight again. Pazienza had to wear a medical device called a “Halo” which consists of a circular metal brace screwed into the skull in four spots and is propped up with four metal rods. Pazienza had the Halo screwed to his skull for 3 months. While Pazienza’s neck was broken he maintained a workout regime against Doctors orders. 13 months after suffering a broken neck Pazienza returned to the ring and beat future WBC World Jr. Middleweight champion Luis Santana via a 10-round decision. It is considered the greatest comeback in boxing history
The film was produced by Bruce Cohen, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Younger, Chad Verdi and Noah Kraft. Martin Scorsese, Myles Nestel and Lisa Wilson of The Solution Entertainment Group executive produced with Joshua Sason of Magna Entertainment, which funded the film. Solution is handling international sales for the film.
Ben Younger (“Boiler Room”) directed. Katey Sagal, Amanda Clayton and Aaron Eckhart also star, with Eckhart portraying trainer Kevin Rooney.