(“Remember, Anderson. It isn’t a troll if you believe it.”| Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting)
We love MMA-related movies as much as the next blog here at CagePotato. Heck, every 100th one isn’t even stupendously horrid.
So needless to say, it caught our attention today when we read that Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos was excited to be a part of a project whose story includes an MMA fighter protagonist and would also co-star former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. MMA Junkie had the strange report:
The Oscar-nominated actor is part of a new film project called ‘Monday Nights at Seven’ that stars actor/director Marty Sader in a love and life story against the backdrop of the MMA world. But what is unique about the movie in its infancy is that the team behind it is seeking to have it funded through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding site that lets supporters contribute financially in exchange for rewards once the financing goal is hit.
Sader will play the lead role as an MMA fighter, Anderson Silva will be his coach, and Olmos will play Sader’s father. But the movie’s release isn’t a sure thing just quite yet. That’s kind of up to you, dear reader. And so far, things are not looking great. The film’s Kickstarter campaign runs until the end of this month and has a goal of $500,000. So far, Junkie reports that it has raised just over $10,000.
We’ve seen some horrible results from MMA movies produced by director/stars before *cough Hector Echavarria cough* but we watched a few minutes of Sader’s self-made film “Most High” on Netflix recently and so we’re at least optimistic that he’ll treat this fight story with seriousness.
But still, how believable can a film be when it’s fighter star is frumpy, has a Mexican-American father despite himself looking like he is of Indian sub-continent descent, and has Anderson Silva in an English-speaking main role? How many “thassit” and “this is my job” remarks do you think they’ll be able to fit in for Anderson?
Perhaps more dubious is the fact that their Kickstarter campaign isn’t just an opportunity for fans to support the dream of a filmmaker and actors they admire — it’s an opportunity to kind of bunk the film for themselves. A speaking role in “Monday Nights at Seven,” can be purchased for $10,000, for example.
It looks as if the ending hasn’t been written, either. Reportedly, Sader “will have an actual fight for Resurrection Fighting Alliance that will be part of the film’s climax. As such, the ending is open until he gets that fight — he might win, he might lose.”
But he definitely won’t look that good doing either. So, yeah. Donate money to a film with weird stunt-casting, a story that hasn’t been planned out to completion, and whose climax will include a fight scene with a non-athlete, first-time fighter.
I’m probably just hungry and grumpy. Maybe the idea is so innovative that it will be cool. And who are we to crap on someone’s dream anyway?
Go check out their Kickstarter and decide for yourself if you want to help make Anderson Silva the movie star his sensei Steven Seagal always believed he could be.