Shawn Levy's "Real Steel" stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a down-on-his-luck boxing promoter unexpectedly saddled with his 11-year-old son, Max (Dakota Goyo) after his ex-girlfriend dies. Together, the two embark on a classic underdog tale, with spunky sparring robot Atom by their side. Evangeline Lilly plays the owner of the local gym, and Jackman's love interest, Bailey Tallett.
Response to the movie so far has been mixed. While some critics praised it as a heartwarming family movie for all, with Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly calling it a "jaunty, well-built hybrid action/family pic," others were more skeptical. Logan Hill at New York Magazine condemned "Real Steel" as a " smoke-spewing, gas-guzzling Hummer of a movie" that is "overstuffed with overblown themes that it’s as incoherent as a Super Bowl halftime show and just as hammily patriotic."
Levy has been turning out gentle-hearted action comedies for a while, though he's probably best known for his romps "Date Night" and "Night at the Museum" (he also directed episodes of "The Secret Life of Alex Mack" back in the day!).
The Huffington Post spoke with Levy about the challenges of casting, why he built real robots that move on their own instead of going digital, and how "Real Steel" is different from "Transformers."
The film takes place in 2020, where robots have replaced humans in the boxing ring and Jackman plays a retired boxer turned small-time promoter who sees potential in a discarded robot. In the process of training his new champion, starts sharing a life with his 11-year-old son.
"'Real Steel' is projecting into a future where boxing has become mundane to people. As with WWF and all the different fighting styles that have sort of developed and evolved over the last few years, or ten years, people want more action and they want more violence and they want more gore and it reaches a point where a human dies in the ring out of blood thirst, basically -- audience blood thirst," Lilly said of the film. "So they decide to get the humans out of the ring, put the robots into the ring, and then we can have real carnage, to the degree where we have heads hanging on the walls and body parts pulled away off the ring, which obviously you can't do with humans."
The film also stars Dakota Goyo as Jackman's son. Goyo recently portrayed a young Thor in the Marvel comic movie.
"Beautiful men, both of them and both consummate professionals," Lilly said of Jackman and Goyo. "I was stunned and pleased to see how truly professional Dakota was. He's clearly an experienced actor because he would come onto set, he would know his lines, he would know how to hit a mark, he would know how to give a variance in performance. He was really good! And then of course Hugh Jackman -- everyone has already said all the things I could say which is that he's humble and kind and generous and professional and so good. He's just so good!"
At the premiere, Jackman told OnTheRedCarpet.com that he forgot to explain the dynamics of his on-screen kiss with the Lilly to his kids, causing his 11-year-old son Oscar to think the actor had cheated on his wife Deborra-Lee Furness.
"I forgot to tell my boy that he was about to see his dad kiss another woman and explain that experience because it was the first movie of mine that they've been to. So literally, the scene came on and I was like, 'Oh no' " Jackman told OnTheRedCarpet.com. " Oscar just looks straight up and he goes, 'Wow, Dad, you're going to be in trouble.'" When asked about the rumors of a "Real Steel" sequel, Lilly said she would love to be a part of another film but also wanted to spend time with her new son.
"I don't have a choice in the matter, I am contractually on-board," Lilly admitted. "But because the movie was such a great experience, I don't see why I wouldn't want to be a part of another one, other than the fact that I really want to be at home with my baby!"
In May, the actress welcomed her first child with boyfriend Norman Kali. Lilly recently opened up about life with her "wonderful" baby boy. Lilly has yet to reveal the name of her child or the date he was born. She was photographed sporting what appeared to be a baby bump in April.
"My son is wonderful. He is amazing," the 32-year-old actress told Us Weekly. "Motherhood is a joy! I have dreamed about being a mother since I was 12-years-old and there's nothing disappointing about it."
It was announced in June that Lilly nabbed a role in the highly-anticipated film adaptation of "The Hobbit," directed by Peter Jackson. The actress will be playing a new character, a Woodland Elf named Tauriel.
Her son's father is Lilly's boyfriend Kali, who worked as a production assistant on "LOST," Us Weekly previously reported. The magazine published a celebrity photo of Lilly holding a baby and walking alongside Kali in a supermarket in Hawaii, where much of "LOST" was filmed.
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