WAMG At The REAL STEEL Junket

Hey there, all you fancy kids! Melissa here. Yesterday, I had the chance to sit down with some of the people behind Dreamworks Pictures’ REAL STEEL, starring Hugh Jackman.

REAL STEEL is a gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future, where the sport of boxing has gone hi-tech, starring Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

My day was filled with roundtables, which you will find below. The first was with screenplay writer John Gatins, producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford. They talked about the inspiration behind the film, and using new technology on set.
REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH DON MURPHY, SUSAN MONTFORD & JOHN GATINS

My second roundtable of the day was with Director Shawn Levy. During our session, he talked about being compared to other directors, THE HARDY MEN, and whether or not there will be a sequel to REAL STEEL. He is quite a charismatic guy!

REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH SHAWN LEVY

Sugar Ray Leonard… What more can I say? This man is a legend. He spoke to us about teaching Hugh Jackman how to box on camera, and why he thinks boxing movies have such an impact on audiences.

REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH SUGAR RAY LEONARD

It is hard not to like Anthony Mackie… not that I tried! Mackie plays Finn in the film. It was apparent during this roundtable that he is very well read. I had no idea that he is such a history buff. It’s quite impressive. He also has a snarky comedic presence, which is something that I always appreciate.

REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH ANTHONY MACKIE

These next two are visual. Hugh Jackman, who plays Charlie Kenton, has quite the presence when he walks in the room. Not an overwhelming presence, but more of a kindness. He was extremely polite and engaging. Jackman spoke with us about shooting a film that his family could enjoy, Wolverine, and LES MISÉRABLES.

Oh, and I might have had my picture taken with him…

The final event of the day was getting to speak with John Rosengrant and Erik Nash about the special effects of the film. John Rosengrant was the animatronic supervisor for the film. He talked about designing the boxing robots in the film. The coolest part was that when we walked into the room, Atom and Noisy Boy, two of the bots, were set up in the room! All 8 feet of them! It was incredible to see the actual animatronics up close. Then Erik Nash, the visual effects supervisor, took us through a brief presentation on how they developed the fight scenes. Technology has come a long way!

What a fun day! Thanks for reading guys. Until next time…
Stay Fancy,
Melissa

Make sure you check out REAL STEEL in theaters OCTOBER 7th