Fight of a Lifetime: Making The Bronx Bull Taught Its Director the Keys to a Knockout Biopic

“It’s better to be feared than to be loved,” goes the old adage—paraphrased from Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince by a world-weary mob boss in A Bronx Tale, yet just as relevant in the context of director Martin Guigui’s “based on a true story” account of the life and times of boxing legend Jake LaMotta, The Bronx Bull.

The tension between love and fear that ran throughout the former World Middleweight Champion’s childhood and into his adult years is freely explored in Guigui’s cinematic adaptation of LaMotta’s autobiography, which was also shaped by the boxer’s participation as a creative consultant. Whereas Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull delved into the sadomasochistic tendencies of hyper-aggressive masculinity and was filtered through the authorial lens of its singular director, The Bronx Bull takes aim at a more factual, and thereby “actual,” portrayal of its titular fighter, focusing on the abuse LaMotta suffered as a child that was only implied in the former film.

Guigui spoke with MovieMaker about the equipment and techniques he harnessed to make a film that spans multiple eras of 20th-century America; how he staged and shot the film’s boxing sequences “for impact”; the story behind why he attempted to name the film Raging Bull 2; the four core components that make a great biopic and more.