The dramatic movie Resurrecting the Champ, directed by Rod Lurie and starring Josh Hartnett, is based on a 1997 article written by reporter J.R. Moehringer. Moehringer's article traced the life of a once great boxer who wound up as part of California's homeless population, living on the streets and just scrapping by.
The film version, which takes a few artistic liberties with the story, stars Hartnett (The Black Dahlia) as a struggling Denver Times sports reporter named Erik Kernan. Kernan rescues a homeless man from a beating only to discover the man's actually 'Battling Bob Satterfield,' a boxing legend who everyone believed to be dead. Samuel L Jackson (Snakes on a Plane) co-stars as the ex-boxer.
Preparing to Play a Journalist: Hartnett did his research before shooting began. “I read a bunch of articles that J.R. [Moehringer] wrote and I talked to him a lot. I went and hung out with sports writers at the New York Times, The Calgary Herald and the Denver paper. Then I taught myself to type, which was fun. I like to do stuff like that to put myself in the mindset of a character. But, really, I'm a terrible typist. I know where my fingers go now, but I still type about two words a minute. That's about it.”
Hartnett gained a new appreciation for the amount of work and stress that goes into getting a scoop. “That's the thing I knew intellectually, but I had no concept of the amount of competition, and if you're not rising, you're falling. And it seems like a competitive, dog-eat-dog sort of world. So the pressures push you to that point where you can make some mistakes due to deadlines and things like that, and get in a lot of trouble.
The thing I think is difficult to see, especially in this film, because of those time constraints, people end up in a situation where they're delivering news that's not news, and it happens all the time. The retraction page is always with these tiny little articles that say, ‘We screwed up. Sorry. Whoops.’ But it's supposed to be news. The lines that are blurred today between celebrity journalism and news, celebrity gossip and news, and the way the Internet has such a huge effect of bringing in the idea of opinion as fact. It's hard to compete with Perez Hilton who's writing whatever he wants. The fine line between entertainment and news is getting finer every day.”
Taking on a Character Based on a Real Person: Hartnett had plenty of material to look over in order to play the part. “I wasn't going to do any sort of impersonation of J.R. When you do an impersonation, unless it's someone famous, it comes across as hollow. When you're playing someone famous, you almost have to [impersonate] but you have to find the interior of the character, as well. I wanted to know what he was thinking and going through at the time and get to know him. It's his story. It was my responsibility to get to know him. Also, I'd read The Tender Bar, which is his memoir and bunch of his articles. Sometimes you can find out about somebody through their work better than [by talking to them], especially if their work is about them. Memoirs help.”
Asked if he thought director Rod Lurie’s journalism background helped give the film credibility, Hartnett replied, “I think it gave the movie a little extra credibility. I think he knew exactly what the newspaper stuff should look like and feel like. We talked about what it was like for him as a journalist and if he'd ever been stuck in a tough place like this. Luckily, he hadn't really. But talking to J.R. was really informative as well. Rod is a fantastic director. He has this great hands-off quality once he's on set. He told me months before we started filming he knew the character better than I did, and I said, ‘Okay.’ But [he added], ‘By the time we start shooting, you're going to know the character better than me.’ I was like, ‘All right. Cool.’ So when we got to set, he allowed us a lot of room.”
Tackling the Role of a Dad: Resurrecting the Champ marks the first film in which Josh Hartnett plays a father, and Hartnett enjoyed exploring that relationship. “It was a film so I got to hand [the boy] back at the end of the day, so it wasn't like I really had that much responsibility. But I found it surprisingly easy to get along with and play with the kid all day long. Maybe that's some sort of instinct kicking in that I'll deny for a few more years. I had a great time playing a father. I'm surprised how easy it was to get into that role.”
Working with Samuel L Jackson: “He works in such a different way than I do,” explained Hartnett. “…Sam is an inspiring actor to work with because he's so different. He comes with the character fully prepared. Even the first time we sat down and read scenes a few weeks before we started working, he had the voice and knew exactly what he wanted to do. We got to set and he would do one take and Rod would say, ‘You've got to do it again,’ and he'd say, ‘Why? That was the performance right there. You got it.’
It's interesting to work with an actor like that. I haven't worked with people like that before. Working with Alan (Alda) was a huge joy too because he's the nicest man in the world and a terrific actor. With Alan we'd shoot and shoot and shoot until we were both happy with what we got - the interaction. With Sam, it was one and out. He knew what he was there for.”
Page 2: Josh Hartnett on 30 Days of Night
