Southpaw started out as a vehicle for Eminem and it was sold as a vaguely metaphorical looking at his life through boxing. While that idea fell through the film lived on Eminem’s departure, and last November Jake Gyllenhaal attached himself to the lead role.
Now the movie is further coming together as Deadline reports that Rachel McAdams, Lupita Nyong’o and Forest Whitaker are being courted for the movie, which Antoine Fuqua is set to direct.
The film is about a boxer who wins a welterweight title and then suffers a tragedy, forcing him to put his life back together to earn his young daughter’s respect. Nyong’o is set to be a social worker who cares for Gyllenhaal’s daughter, with the presumption being that McAdams will be the love interest as she’s described as the female lead.
Southpaw has certainly been through the Hollywood miller as it first came together at DreamWorks, before moving to Sony, MGM and now The Weinstein Company.
Fuqua is set to direct from a screenplay by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter. Production is slated to begin sometime next year.