Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone are back in the ring – but this time it’s just for laughs, in the boxing comedy ‘Grudge Match’.
The film tells the story of the two old rivals’ long-festering feud and their decision 30 years on to settle the score once and for all.
The film also stars Kim Basinger, Stallone’s love interest.
It is far from the first fight the duo have had on the big screen. Both actors shot to fame with boxing films – De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Raging Bull’ and Stallone with the ‘Rocky’ movies.
Stallone played a consultative role with many of the scenes, saying: ‘‘We go in there and did a lot of rehearsing and I said to Pete Segal if you need any help let me know because I’ve done this a few times and I know the angles that work and the angles that don’t. But it’s his vision.’‘
The director Peter Segal added, ‘‘No one has choreographed more fight movies in cinema history than Sly Stallone. And so I would be an idiot not to at least ask him for some help and for some guidance. He was very giving. He was very respectful of me that this was my film. But I couldn’t have done it without him. He was a great partner.”
The film mainly centres around the two aging boxers fight to get back into shape while everything else is blowing up around them.
‘Grudge Match’ hits European cinemas in January.
