Elliott Dufford, the washed-up trainer in Torsten Ruether’s boxing drama Uppercut, has little in common with Pulp Fiction crime boss Marsellus Wallace or IMF Agent Luther Stickell of Mission: Impossible fame. But they are the same height. And the resemblance is uncanny.
To play Dufford in the new drama from director Torsten Ruether, M:I and Pulp Fiction star Ving Rhames shed his ultra-cool studio persona and reconnected with his indie film roots. The low-budget feature — Reuter’s adaptation of his own 2021 German-language drama Leberhaken — follows a promising young female boxer, played by German newcomer Luise Großmann, who tries to persuade a disillusioned trainer (Rhames) to take her on and train her. Großmann, a former professional pole vaulter-turned-actress, reprises her role from the original film. Joanna Cassidy and Jordan E. Cooper co-star.
Uppercut was made for a fraction of a Mission: Impossible budget — all of Rhames’ scenes were done over a nine-day shoot in L.A. — but the actor found the experience much more intimate and intense than many a studio shoot.
“When you don’t have as much money; you can’t do as many things, but you can do more creative things, you can find ways of making things work,” says Rhames. “This movie brought me back to why I got into making films.”
Lionsgate’s Grindstone Entertainment picked up all rights in North America for Uppercut following its world premiere at the Oldenburg Film Festival and bowing the film theatrically in the U.S. on Friday, Feb. 28.
Ahead of the release, Rhames and Uppercut co-star Luise Großmann spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about boxing, their instant chemistry on set, and the freedom low-budget filmmaking provides.
What was it about this role, or the pitch that Torsten Ruether made you, that got you interested, that made you want to embody this role of Elliot?
Ving Rhames: I read the script, and just got really attached to this story. And then meeting Luise, we had a very good natural chemistry, so it made it very easy. Throwing Torsten in with her made it an easy choice for me.
Luise, what was that first meeting like? Because I just checked — you weren’t even born when Pulp Fiction came out. What was your first encounter with Ving like?
Luise Großmann: Of course, I was super excited and I knew he was so experienced. Having worked for so many years in this industry with so many experienced people, so I was very respectful. And a bit scared. But he made it so easy for me. There was none of this: “I’ve done all this, and you’ve done nothing” feel. From that very first meeting, he was so open-armed. Like Ving said, we had this natural connection, and I think also this curiosity about each other. We are coming from such different worlds.
Rhames: She wasn’t afraid, which is what I really liked. She just jumped in, so it made it very easy and natural for me.
