Gord Apolloni has worked with some of the finest athletes in the world.
He's no stranger to working with some of Canada's high-profile young boxers, but over the last few months his role as a coach at Top Glove Boxing Academy has found him in the ring with a different sort of client.
Apolloni has been putting in time with the likes of Prison Break star Dominic Purcell and up-and-coming Canadian actor Izaak Smith, helping them both prepare for their leading roles in A Fighting Man.
“There are very similar traits with both celebrities that want to be the best they can be, and international athletes like Amber (Konikow) and other athletes we have here,” Apolloni said.
It's incredible, he said, how much progress the athletes have made in such a short time span.
“They're ready to box now,” he said. “They can actually fight in two months of work. It's phenomenal — it reminds me of working with national team members.”
While Apolloni has been helping the actors work on their boxing skills, the actors might be able to return the favour. The man who has helped Canadian boxers win medals on the international stage will soon be on a stage of his own — he's making his big-screen debut as a referee in the upcoming film.
Since he is already a registered Ontario referee, playing one on film won't be much of a stretch.
“Being in the ring here, and being in the ring in the actual filming, is going to be the same thing,” he said.
A Fighting Man actors Izaak Smith (left) and Dominic Purcell (right) square off in the ring, with help from Top Glove Boxing Academy coach Gord Apolloni, who is choreographing the fight scenes in the Damien Lee film being shot here in Sudbury. Photo by Jenny Jelen.
For Purcell, who has never donned a set of boxing gloves, picking up pugilistic skills from a man of Apolloni's calibre has been a thrill. It's taken an exception amount of commitment on his part, but it's all in a day's work for the Prison Break actor.
“This is just a concentrated focus,” he said. “The pressure of getting the technical aspects down, having that confidence in myself that when I throw a punch, it looks legitimate. Fundamentally, that's my job as an actor — to look like the real deal.”
Still wet with sweat after stepping out of the ring for a sparring session with Konikow, Purcell said he's come a long way. His initial apprehensions about fighting an elite athlete didn't take long to disappear.
“I wouldn't have been able to do that five months ago,” he said. “She would have knocked me out.”
Purcell has been in Sudbury for quite some time now. Once he wrapped up filming on The Frozen in March, he jumped right into the lead role in A Fighting Man. While he is happy to see the sunshine as of late, the Australian is still not sold on the concept on winter.
“It doesn't impress me, no,” he said. “It's just too cold. The coldest temperature I've ever been in my life is plus 4. When I got to Sudbury, it was minus 40. It was something I had never experienced before.”
Smith, on the other hand, who plays the role of the young fighter in the film, said Sudbury feels “exactly like my hometown Prince George (British Columbia).”
“I feel I've been here my entire life,” he said.
He may be more comfortable in the climate, but he has certainly stretched himself as an actor to prepare for the film.
“The process has been really long and hard,” he said. “I had a five-month audition period where I had to put on 20 pounds of muscle in order to even get a shot at this role. A lot of weight training, a lot of time in the gym. I feel like a big meathead these days.”
Learning the heavy lines and the emotional scenes has pushed him, too.
Smith broke into the entertainment industry during season one of So You Think You Can Dance. When asked if his dance moves helped him out in the boxing ring, he let out a laugh.
“Oh, they're exactly the same,” he said. “In dancing, you strike a lot of people in the face. In boxing, you twinkle around on your little ballet toes.”
Damien Lee, the writer and director of the film, said he's personally always been a fan of the latter sport.
“I've always been a fan of boxing,” he said. “I boxed a lot when I was growing up. My father and I went to the fights.”
Having already done A Dark Truth, formerly known as The Truth, in Sudbury, Lee said the city provides the perfect backdrop for the industrial city the story is set in.
“I like Sudbury a lot,” he said. “For this film, A Fighting Man, the city is absolutely perfect in terms of how it looks. We wanted a mining-looking town.”
On top of providing a pleasing aesthetic, Sudbury is also able to provide the skilled industry workers needed for the film.
“There is a number of reasons that (Sudbury) works for us.”
