Sales are starting to flow at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with the news that Open Road Films has won a bidding war to distribute the Miles Teller boxing drama Bleed for This, telling the story of boxer Vinny Paz, picking it up for a reported $4 million.
The boxer, born Vincenzo Pazienza and known as the “Pazmanian Devil,” became world champion in multiple weight classes but after winning the Jr. Middleweight World title, he was in a serious accident that left him with a broken neck, leaving him paralyzed. He was told he would never walk again, let alone fight, but he kept working out and a little over a year after the car crash returned to the ring and won a match against Luis Santana.
The boxing comeback story is directed by Ben Younger (Boiler Room) and co-stars Katey Sagal, Amanda Clayton and Aaron Eckhart as Vinny’s trainer Kevin Rooney. The film was produced by Younger with Bruce Cohen, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Chad Verdi and Noah Kraft with Martin Scorsese, Myles Nestel and Lisa Wilson as executive producers.