“I think if you sacrifice one element of something that you truly believe in and truly love, you sacrifice everything,” says Jack Huston, discussing his directorial debut Day of the Fight. The actor, known for his roles in Boardwalk Empire, Ben-Hur, and American Hustle, has stepped behind the camera with a clear vision, a black-and-white period piece about a boxer’s potentially final day in the ring, starring Michael Pitt as Mike Flanagan.
“I think the seed was probably planted back when I was working on Boardwalk Empire,” Huston recalls, describing his early collaboration with Pitt. “I remember Michael punching sandbags and going off to the boxing gym. His sensitivity, his vulnerability, how much he was able to convey, and how much he elevated scenes. Every time I worked with him, I just found it took on a new life.”
The concept crystallized after Huston encountered a Stanley Kubrick documentary short about a fighter on the day of a prize fight. “I said, well, what if that day of the prize fight was also possibly his last day? And what would you do? Who would you see? What would you say?” The emotional potential of this premise immediately resonated. “When you think something’s a good idea, you sort of feel it in your stomach a bit. And I really got gut punched by the idea of Michael in this role.”
The Poetry of Black and White
Huston’s insistence on shooting in black and white wasn’t merely aesthetic. “I think it’s because I like black and white photography,” he explains. “It’s almost like a magnifying glass into the soul. Something about those lights and shades and that sort of disparity between the two and how one really does witness the truth of somebody, of the human being.”
This visual approach aligned perfectly with his star. “Michael, in that sort of great sense of art imitating life, had a hard run of it for the last sort of decade and had a lot of ups and downs and sort of had been on a bit of that Irish Mike fight.” The parallel between actor and character added another layer of authenticity to the project.
“I wanted to make a film that I said was about a boxer, not a boxing film,” Huston emphasizes. “This is a character study.” His approach focuses on the metaphorical nature of boxing. “A fight can be won or lost in the final seconds of the 12th round. And that’s a bit like life. It’s a bit of an elegy for life, isn’t it? It’s like, keep fighting, keep standing.”
This philosophy extends to the story’s core themes. “Day of the Fight isn’t necessarily the day of the fight in the ring. He’s fighting for everything on this day – everything in his life that he’s ever loved, ever cared for. He’s going to fight for it all. Not a title, it’s about everything else.”
Mike Flanagan (Michael Pitt) and Jessica (Nicolette Robinson)
The Power of Ensemble
“Getting someone like Ron Perlman, it’s amazing to experience an actor with such gravitas that they don’t have to speak to convey everything,” Huston says of his supporting cast. Working with legendary talents like Steve Buscemi and Joe Pesci elevated the project further, “You put a great actor in a scene, there’ll always be a great actor, but you put two great actors in a scene together, magic happens.”
His approach to casting these veterans went beyond typical supporting roles. “Those side characters weren’t side characters in their lives, and they’re not side characters in Irish Mike’s life. They’re the people that formed him, that made him who we are.” This philosophy led to creating detailed backstories for each character. “I love a whole history. We knew where they were throughout Michael’s life. You don’t have to say it for them to understand it. As long as we know that there’s a history there, I think that is conveyed beautifully to an audience.”
Every scene with Pitt opposite these accomplished actors became “this hub of creation where we were witnessing honest, truthful moments,” Huston reflects. “That’s what you’re seeking in this business all the time – these moments of honesty, these moments of truth.”
Fighting for Every Frame
Drawing on two decades of experience in the industry, Huston faced the challenges of independent filmmaking head-on. “Making a period film in black and white with Michael Pitt as the star is pretty much an impossibility in today’s world,” he explains. “We were sometimes offered money to do a film, but make it present day or make it in color, or you can’t have Michael Pitt.”
These compromises were non-starters. The project even earned a telling nickname: “We lovingly renamed it Fight of the Day, not Day of the Fight, because every day we had to fight for every single frame.”
Huston’s extensive acting experience shaped his approach to directing. “As an actor, you’re always trying to seek or find this truth,” he reflects. “I think it’s trying to inject the real human emotion that we all go to because that’s the most relatable aspect.”
This perspective influenced his directorial style, particularly in working with actors. “I think a lot of times, on films, performances are almost quashed before they’ve even begun because people say too much,” he observes. “I love how one can take a scene and elevate it. I love the unexpected – it’s one of the most beautiful parts of the magic of making movies.”
Looking ahead, Huston sees his film as part of a larger struggle to preserve a certain kind of filmmaking. “If you love something and you really believe in it, go with your heart, go with your gut, stick with it. You’re going to be told NO fifty thousand times. You just need that YES.” The result is exactly the movie he set out to make – not the one others wanted him to make – and that, he suggests, makes all the difference.
This interview has been condensed. Listen to the audio version here.
