Seasons » 2015-16 » Everton News
Everton's supporting role in new movie 'Creed'


A still from the Creed trailer with Bellew and trademark Everton crest
Bellew stars as one of title character Adonis Creed's opponents in what is hoped will be a Hollywood blockbuster and a still from one of the scenes in the trailer shows the real-life boxer entering the ring in his trademark robes adorned with a prominent Everton crest.
Bellew's fight scenes also take place at Goodison and the famous Archibald Leitch criss-cross design on the Bullens Road stand is evident in the background towards the end of the two-and-a-half minute trailer. Crowd scenes were also filmed during the Blues' home game with West Bromwich Albion last season.
The film, headlined by adopted Evertonian Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan, of Fruitvale Station and American prime-time drama Parenthood fame, gets its theatrical release in the United States in late November and comes out in the United Kingdom next February.
Reader Comments (71)
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2 Posted 15/09/2015 at 19:37:56
3 Posted 15/09/2015 at 20:41:13
4 Posted 15/09/2015 at 20:42:13
Aware of the numerous "wardrobe mishaps" of unfortunate starlets at countless movie premiers, I have decided to wear my lucky boxies. They may have let me down countless times, but never once have I accidentally "popped out for the Postman".
Have not yet settled on a single choice of outfit for the occasion, best (I think) to await Sly & Bills notification of "costumerie allowance" (aka "Other Operating Costs"). Naturally, I shall select my outfit from the vast choices available via "Everton One" and "Everton Two". Sadly, it appears, that neither Bangkok Suvarnabhumi nor John Lennon International Airports offer the necessary items.
Failing that, I shall peruse the many and various market outfitters of Kirkby, Greatie and St Johns.
5 Posted 15/09/2015 at 21:17:06
This spin off looks like it's taking itself a bit seriously but it's bound to have a heavy dose of bullshit in there, as all boxing films do. The only realistic one I've seen is Raging Bull.
6 Posted 15/09/2015 at 21:49:10
7 Posted 15/09/2015 at 22:31:26
Champion, a film made in the fifties, was a very good boxing film, it starred Kirk Douglas. Another was The Harder The Fall, the last film Humphrey Bogart made. It was the rumoured to have shown the career of Primo Carnera who was Heavyweight Champion of the World in the thirties. Most of his fights were fixed according to the film.
8 Posted 16/09/2015 at 03:56:40
10 Posted 16/09/2015 at 04:40:18
For realism I also liked Cinderella Man. Great job re-creating the Braddock/Baer fight.
11 Posted 16/09/2015 at 09:27:46
12 Posted 16/09/2015 at 10:33:37
13 Posted 16/09/2015 at 10:47:28
14 Posted 16/09/2015 at 11:40:12
Thanks, I'll have a look at those films.
Mike (#10),
I forgot about Cinderella Man, it wasn't bad to be honest. If you look at the actual footage of Braddock vs Baer it does look a lot like Crowe was in the ring. What wasn't factually true, though, was portraying Baer as a bad guy, apparently he was a decent fella.
15 Posted 16/09/2015 at 12:36:34
Well ok, there's probably very little chance the director sat in an edit suite with Thelma Schoonmaker and said...
"Wait go back three frames...THERE! THAT guy...the guy sidding in the upper Gwendoline stand, sucking on the e-cig, in the corner where it meets the upper Bullington - I wanna goddam close-up of him, he'll drive the girls muthafuckin' car-azy!"
..but as they're using my voice without paying me, surely that's worth a hot-dog or...something
Dave (7) - 'The Harder They Fall' is terrific and yes it was certainly based on the life/career of Primo 'Satchel Feet' Carnera (he was also known as 'The Ambling Alp').
Re Carnera's fights being fixed, I've no doubt they were, but to be fair to him, according the the superb book, 'Jacob's Beach', hundreds of big fights were fixed during boxing's 'golden era'
By the way, if you wanted to have a film night for mates and appear all..um.. 'film buffy', you could watch the Jimmy Cliff classic 'The Harder They Come', followed by 'The Harder They Fall.'
(does that Barry Norman - 'and why not!')
16 Posted 16/09/2015 at 17:55:31
17 Posted 16/09/2015 at 18:30:28
I tried watching Raging Bull once but couldn't get in to it, maybe need another try. The Hurricane is a good one, as are most Denzel films, and Jake Gyllenhall's new one, Southpaw, is a belter.
18 Posted 16/09/2015 at 18:31:13
Not forgetting John Wayne and Victor McLachlan in The Quiet Man.
What a scrap.
19 Posted 16/09/2015 at 18:37:29
21 Posted 16/09/2015 at 19:04:09
Brian, I think I gotcha. I worked out a few times alongside James "Buster" Douglas... and Ali himself once asked me if I was crazy.
22 Posted 16/09/2015 at 19:14:49
Great call on Jacob's Beach, one of those books I read non-stop on holiday once.
As for boxing films (or more accurately films with boxing in them), you have to watch Punch Drunks by The Three Stooges. I must have seen it 50 times and it still makes me bellylaugh.
23 Posted 16/09/2015 at 19:15:16
24 Posted 16/09/2015 at 19:32:12
I disagree about Stallone. Granted he's been in some absolute terrible films. Stop! Or my mum will shoot is right up there with some of the worst films ever made.
But Rocky and First Blood are absolute stand out performances.
25 Posted 16/09/2015 at 19:33:29
Mike, that is impressive.
Best I can manage is that I once threw a Dairylea triangle at Phil "Buster" Collins and then ducked out of sight when the tubby, tone-deaf, slaphead shouted "What the fuck?"
26 Posted 16/09/2015 at 19:59:22
27 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:00:23
No-one would have lived with our Stanley on that form.
28 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:06:23
29 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:06:40
30 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:06:48
It's Any Old Port. Quality!
31 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:13:19
Maybe before some of your time!
And a lot of them were women.
32 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:15:07
Another film about boxing and also the corrupt side of the game was Body and Soul starring a real actor John Garfield, who made Stallone look like a ten-cent extra.
33 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:20:07
34 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:23:06
I think they put a couple of pounds of nuts and bolts in his glove as well, still cry with laughter when I watch it.
35 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:24:09
Mike, I'm not going to disagree with you again. That Tim Howard is great.
Does anyone remember the old black and white British film The Square Ring with Jack Warner? I haven't seen it for I while but it has plenty of qualities.
36 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:32:06
38 Posted 16/09/2015 at 20:43:53
If we can just rattle on about boxing movies in general then Raging Bull is clearly out there on it's own as a masterpiece, but as with most vintage De Niro performances, I now find my enjoyment of it tainted by the last twenty years of excruciating, going through the motions, gurning he's habitually churned out. Seriously, since the same year double whammy of Casino and Heat, he's done nothing but disgrace his previous reputation as a committed character actor in a trade off for easy dollars to keep TriBeCa ticking over.
Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront (whilst not strictly speaking a fight film) is a portrayal of an ex-pugulist I've always had a soft spot for ever since I was a kid. In recent years, Christian Bale in The Fighter had Dickie Eklund's character and mannerisms down to a tee. There's also Korean film called Crying Fist that's well worth a watch if you like your boxing movies served with a nice slice of sentimentality and can overlook the fact that the guy playing an Olympic Silver Medalist looks like your gran could give him a good schooling in the ring.
Of course, all of those pale into insignificance compared to the most beloved boxing movie of all time: Teen Wolf Too.
39 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:22:30
I'm glad to see Tony Bellew is flying the flag for our great club in such a global manner. But there is a potential problem if our most famous thespian's career progresses. Hopefully he will insist on the Everton crest on his costume while playing the male lead on stage in the West End in, say, A Christmas Carol or To Kill A Mockingbird.
Regarding boxing books worth a shout: Sting Like A Bee by Jose Torres (1973) and The Greatest: My Own Story by Mohammed Ali (1977). My View from the Corner by Angelo Dundee also makes interesting reading. These and other boxing books are next to my EFC ones on the shelf. Might get the Hagler book for Christmas (still think the Leonard fight was a draw).
Re: DVDs, Champions Forever is a brilliant documentary and Tyson- the Movie also an interesting insight. I also started the D'Agostini collection Boxers some years but started to fear for my bank balance after about 25 installments. I also have all of Ali's fights on DVD except for the first 6 (to be honest, the commercial breaks on 1970s US TV is more interesting than a few of those).
40 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:32:19
42 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:41:16
My recommendation may not mean much as you clearly know more about the sweet science than myself, but the best boxing documentary I've ever seen would have to be Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise & Fall Of Jack Johnson. A great story, about four hours long, but absolutely riveting for every minute of that running time. If you haven't seen it and you can track it down, it's well worth investing your time in.
43 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:44:58
For me, the golden age were the superb middleweights. Duran, Leonard, Hearns...
I once remember watching a bout with my dad and he stated before the start that the "fella in the red corner was a Mexican road sweeper".
It turned out to be Hector Comacho in one of his early fights and he slaughtered his opponent; I've never let him forget that one.
45 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:48:41
46 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:50:57
If you are an aficionado of boxing literature you have probably read Mailer's The Fight.
If you haven't, it's worth a read. I mean Mailer is one of the few journalists to have an ego to compare with Ali but his writing is superb.
47 Posted 16/09/2015 at 21:55:56
Jack Johnson, a very, very interesting character, one of my all time boxing heroes, although I obviously never saw him. He believed in himself as a boxer, more importantly as a man, knew he was as good as any other person, no matter what colour they were, and it was much harder to be a black man in his day.
48 Posted 16/09/2015 at 22:01:22
Dave #38 - you should check out 'The Fabulous 4' DVD with Hagler, Duran, Hearns, Leonard.
Dave #39 - thanks - will check that out.
Graham #40 - yes, I have 'The Fight'. Mailer's style sometimes gets in the way but a good read nevertheless.
49 Posted 16/09/2015 at 22:34:24
One is Nigel Benn (a tough guy but I never really rated him as a boxer).
And the other two are forever linked.
One is Ken Buchanan who I saw fight live but (sadly) right at the end of his career.
And Duran (who took the title from Buchanan by kneeing him in the ball-bag... allegedly).
I'm fairly sure the pic of me with Duran is the greatest thing I own (a Simpsons script signed by Mike Scully comes close).
As for boxing books, AJ Liebling's 'The Sweet Science' is a terrific read.
John (37) - I saw most of that (incredibly long) JJ documentary about a year ago on some unknown channel.
It just kept going and going and going, but as you say, never flagged.
One depressing note (for me) was discovering how racist (one of my heroes) Jack London appeared to be, even setting up the search for 'the great white hope.'
I remember seeing Tyson with Harry Carpenter, both looking at old fighters on a movieola. Tyson's opinion on Johnson's very careful hit-but-don't-get-hit style was 'he stunk the joint out.'
50 Posted 16/09/2015 at 00:06:25
By no means an expert (or even much of a fan) but Jack London seems a weird one to pin down.
On the one hand he warns about the dangers of "the yellow peril" and conjures up some futuristic fantasy in which the dastardly Chinese colonise and forcefully seek control over the entire planet. On the other, he writes 'The Chinago'!
His writings on Jack Johnson seem to contain equally conflicting emotions, in that he clearly expresses endless admiration for Johnson as this beautiful fighting machine, but then proceeds to position him as almost some sort of ultimate Boogie Man that absolutely must be put down at all costs.
Inner struggle with his dedication to Social Darwinism maybe?
-------------
Now, about that Simpsons script... Which episode? I may happen to think the show started down the slow, slippery, slope to eventual shiteness when Scully took over as show runner, but he did pen the lyrics to the sensational 'See My Vest'. Not quite up there with 'A Fish Called Selma' and Troy Mclure in Planet Of The Apes: The Musical ("I hate every ape I see. From chimpan-A to chimpan-Z"), but a classic none the less.
51 Posted 17/09/2015 at 08:07:04
52 Posted 17/09/2015 at 09:16:50
David Bedford, the great distance runner, sat there disgusted at her winning, while Henry Cooper was clapping wildly at her winning, I was never interested in that award after that year.
53 Posted 17/09/2015 at 12:47:49
Whatever happened to that actor? I remember seeing him in another sad film where he was beaten by his dad, played by Burt Young (Paulie from Rocky) who was often cast as someone with a temper or maybe the few films I saw him in, not least one which I shouldn't have seen at a young age... Amityville 2 The Possession.
54 Posted 17/09/2015 at 14:48:29
Kevin #37... first I've heard of that (no pun intended). Where did you read that he was deaf?
55 Posted 18/09/2015 at 01:20:58
56 Posted 18/09/2015 at 10:02:59
A word of warning, do not go and see Southpaw. Utter shite.
57 Posted 18/09/2015 at 10:39:11
Thank you, Mark Kermode.
By the way, another mistake a lot of people make is believing that Carry On Camping is a complex Vietnam analogy, equating Sid James, Bernard Breslaw and their girlfriends going unprepared into the unknown, with the US military's engaging of the Viet Cong in unfamiliar terrain.
But... it's just a load of nobs, knockers and arse gags and a quick blimp of one of Babs '5 abortions' Windsor's incredibly flabby (and incredibly overrated) tits.
58 Posted 18/09/2015 at 10:54:05
The film also gave the great line when Spike turned up 3 months late and was asked, "I suppose, you know you are three months late arriving?"
"I'll make up for it sir, I'll fight nights as well!"
59 Posted 18/09/2015 at 11:34:14
That 1970s Danish Classic Kiss my Whip is similarly misunderstood. It actually focuses on the sociology of knowledge, and deals with epistemological questions at the heart of human existence whilst touching on early Marxist theory.
I continue to be surprised that so many people seem unaware of this.
60 Posted 18/09/2015 at 12:40:49
61 Posted 18/09/2015 at 13:06:12
http://www.amazon.com.au/Hands-Stone-Legend-Roberto-Duran-ebook/dp/B004YE7ACO
He should have been disqualified for a low blow against Buchanan but he was miles ahead on points at the end of the 13th round.
62 Posted 18/09/2015 at 13:10:54
63 Posted 18/09/2015 at 13:30:11
Eugene(52), yes titles can be misleading, a mate of mine bought a DVD. Three In A Bed... it was about Darts!!!
64 Posted 18/09/2015 at 13:32:28
65 Posted 18/09/2015 at 14:09:25
You are both wrong. "Hands off Stones" was the correct title, and it was by Roberto Martinez.
66 Posted 18/09/2015 at 14:58:56
I haven't read that one but I bet it is a cracker!!!!!.
67 Posted 18/09/2015 at 15:21:22
68 Posted 18/09/2015 at 15:24:52
69 Posted 18/09/2015 at 15:39:13
Apparently these days he suffers with a cauliflower arse (although he did beat our very own Noel "dat is all I 'ave to say!" Quarless).
70 Posted 18/09/2015 at 22:04:43
That bet was the culmination of years of madness and when Sibson was despatched, I went down with him. I have been waiting on a thread like this for years for the chance of cathartic confession.
71 Posted 18/09/2015 at 22:13:56
72 Posted 18/09/2015 at 22:29:28
73 Posted 18/09/2015 at 23:56:44
75 Posted 19/09/2015 at 12:43:02
76 Posted 19/09/2015 at 12:46:32
Although I'm not sure how long it would be considering he knocked them out first punch! :)
77 Posted 04/01/2016 at 14:09:16
Creed walks out to Allez Allez Oh!
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1 Posted 15/09/2015 at 18:59:00
Oh yeah: spoiler alert.
Bastards.