Real Steel is an upcoming 2011 American science fiction film starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy. The film is based on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson, though Levy replaced the story's dystopian setting with U.S. state fairs and other "old-fashioned" Americana settings. Real Steel was in development for several years before production began in June of 2010. Filming took place primarily in the U.S. state of Michigan. Animatronic robots were built for the film, and motion capture technology was used to depict the brawling of computer-generated robots. Real Steel is scheduled to be released in both conventional and IMAX theatres on October 7, 2011.
Synopsis
In the year 2020, robots have replaced humans in boxing. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) loses a chance to become a boxing champion when robots take over, and he becomes a small-time promoter. When he has difficulty making a living, he reluctantly teams up with his son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build a robot that can contend for the championship.
Cast
* Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton
* Dakota Goyo as Max Kenton
* Evangeline Lilly as Bailey Tallet
* Kevin Durand as Ricky
* Anthony Mackie as Finn
* Hope Davis
* Phil LaMarr as ESPN Boxing Commentator
* James Rebhorn
* Karl Yune as Tak Mashido
Production
Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and is based on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson, which was also an episode of The Twilight Zone. The original screenplay was written by Dan Gilroy and was purchased by DreamWorks in 2005 for $850,000. (The Hollywood Reporter said DreamWorks purchased the project in 2003.)The project was one of 17 that DreamWorks took from Paramount Pictures when they split in 2008.
Director Peter Berg expressed interest in the project in mid-2009 but moved on.Levy was attached to the project in September 2009, and actor Hugh Jackman was cast in the starring role in the following November. In the same month, Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider at DreamWorks greenlit the project. Variety said insiders reported a budget of $80 million.Les Bohem and Jeremy Leven had worked on Gilroy's screenplay, but in 2009, John Gatins was working on a new draft.When Levy joined the project, he worked with Gatins to revise the screenplay. In the short story, Matheson illustrates a cold-feeling dystopia, but Levy chose to set the film in state fairs and other "old-fashioned" Americana settings that would exude nostalgia and create a warmer tone for the film's father-son story.
Filming began in June 2010, taking place primarily in Michigan. Locations include those around Detroit and across the state; including scenes filmed at a quarry in the norther suburb of Oxford. Filmmakers built 19 animatronic robots to feature in scenes with human actors. For scenes when computer-generated robots brawl, motion capture technology was used. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard was an adviser for these scenes.
In April of 2011, months before the film's release, DreamWorks announced they were developing a sequel to Real Steel. John Gatins, who contributed to the screenplay for the first film, will write the screenplay for the second.
Marketing
DreamWorks released the first trailer for Real Steel in December of 2010.In May of 2011, the studio released a second trailer. While the film features boxing robots, Levy said he wanted to show in the trailer "the father-son drama, the emotion, the kind of rousing sports movie, the Americana of it". He said, "We are very much the robo-boxing movie, but that’s one piece of a broader spectrum."In addition to marketing trailers and posters, DreamWorks enlisted the British advertising company Five33 to build large physical displays representing the film as it had done for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.