Since 2006, there have been rumours circulating of a possible sequel to Martin Scorsese’s 1980 Oscar-winning film, Raging Bull. And now it looks like this will be the year that it gets underway.
Based on the book, Raging Bull II, co-written by Chris Anderson, Sharon McGehee, and Jake LaMotta (upon whose life the first film is based), Raging Bull II will be both a prequel and a sequel.
Robert De Niro won’t be reprising his Oscar-winning role, and instead that part will be going to William Forsythe as the older LaMotta.
First up, a plot description of the novel from the publisher, via /Film:
“Raging Bull II is a continuation of the Jake La Motta story. When Robert De Niro won an Academy Award playing Jake in a film made from the book, La Motta’s life brightened as he shared the limelight with De Niro. Since then he has gone through fortunes, been wealthy and flat broke, and married again in addition to his first five marriages, which ended in divorces before, the film was produced. La Motta now lives with Theresa Miller, his sixth wife. In her he believes he has finally found a marital state that will endure for the balance of his life. All of the conflicts, the fights and the terrors, which have been part and parcel of La Motta’s life, are in these pages. The book takes a sharp look at the real Raging Bull, both as the controversial ring gladiator and as the older, wiser philosophically entertaining performer he has become. In the ex-fighter’s own words, “this time [he] has fought not to be a champion gladiator but to become a champion human being.”
MovieHole.net have a few more details of the film with a list of parts that director and co-writer Martin Guigui is currently scouting for, including a young Jake LaMotta:
“To play 14-20 years old, and already a tough bare knuckles fighter. He takes his father’s frequent beatings without a sound and makes money fighting much bigger opponents in back alley fights set up by his drunken, abusive father. Please submit over 18 to play younger OR emancipated”
Production is set to get underway this summer in Los Angeles in June and July. Let us know your thoughts and/or outrages in the comments below.
