If anyone wants to know the backstory on the film, Friedkin discusses the actual case involving a 14 year old boy that inspired the film.

The Exorcist wasn’t made to be a Horror film but a film on the mysteries of faith

Its not the greatest sound quality but entertaining nonetheless

Recently I had a great conversation with Michael Tucker the Director of the MMA documentary Fightville.

CH: How did Fightville come about? I heard one of the people  in another of your films was a fighter.

MT: He (Mike Goss) came back to the states and started fighting as an amateur and he was in our last film “How To Fold a Flag” which was the story of some veterans coming home and he introduced us to the world of Fightville in Lafayette Louisiana. for us it was something we knew nothing about. it was incredibly festinating once we saw what it was, so we just started filming.

CH: So the film that brought you to this world, did it introduce you to Tim Credeurs gym?

MT: He introduced us to Gil Guillory the promoter, it was captivating, the kind of down home world. That was kind of another interesting thing about the film. I think if we had run into this sport in Las Vegas or Los Angeles, maybe it wouldn’t have attracted us so much. This was such a tiny little world, a promoter a fighter a trainer. It was compelling that it was all just there at our fingertips

CH: How did you go about choosing to focus on Dustin?

MT: The first time I saw Dustin fight I was just blown away. I had never seen a fight that was that exciting before. visually it was just thrilling to watch through the viewfinder, then meeting him you saw this really humble kid, one of his trainers said he talks with his hands, he is very very quiet he is humble. I think more than anything you could see that this was a kid who completely transformed himself. He could have easily turned into something different. He just decided that fighting is my vocation I am going to become a martial artist and I am going to be the best. He could have been any athlete or artist and that would have been amazing. To find someone who is that focused on one thing was enough to sell us that this guy was worth following.

CH: Y are in New York where MMA isn’t legal, did going and seeing it change your opinion on MMA. Or did you have any preconceived notions on it?

MT: I was full of all kinds of prejudices. I had seen bouts on Television, definitely thought it was brutal. When you watch something and don’t know what you’re watching. Gil Guillory said it in the film that blood is superficial, blood freaks people out. When you see blood you’re like o my god there bleeding. I think once we really started to compare it to other combat sports like boxing or even if you compare it to what’s happening out in the middle of the ice with hockey and enforcers, my mind completely changed. There are rules, there are weight classes, there are medical checks Tim Credeur before a fight had an MRI done. They are doing everything they can to make it as safe as possible. The fights are far less brutal than what you see in an Ali vs Frazier beatdown. Once you’re out your out. I think any combat sport or any contact sport is going to be dangerous but there doing the best job they can. It’s not just a sport it’s also an art. That’s what people need to embrace it’s not just some thugs fighting, its highly trained athletes and martial artists fighting.

CH: I have noticed that they might have a feud that’s played up to sell pay per views but after the fight they have gained a level of respect that you don’t see in other sports, there is more to it than just strictly fighting.

MT: That always impressed me, that hug at the end of the fight. The other thing is, it freaks people out a little bit because there not used to it..I read something about Norman Mailer once; he was someone who grew up prepared to fight. In rough and tumble neighborhoods and you would get punched in the face. We don’t live in a world like that. So if some blogger talks shit about me. I can’t walk down the block or down to the bar and punch him out. We live in a world where we exchange words all the time with no consequence. I think to see that consequence actualized it upsets people, because people think it harkens back to a barbaric time when actually it harkens back to a time when there was consequence.

CH: Were there other notable fighters that you were thinking of featuring in the film, that didn’t quite have the gripping story of Dustin and Albert or did you know from the get go these are my guys.

Continue reading “An Interview with Michael Tucker the Director of FIGHTVILLE” »

An interview with a guy who has produced the two highest grossing films in the history of cinema.

Check out this great interview with co-president of Relativity Media Tucker Tooley. He gives some great info on his background and how he got into the industry. The nugget of gold I took from this was find a way to meet people and build your Rolodex, its an industry of connections.