Telling Relatable Human Stories with ‘Day of the Fight’ Writer-Director Jack Huston

A once celebrated boxer is about to fight for the first time since leaving prison. To prepare, he takes a redemptive journey through the streets of Brooklyn, reconnecting with those he loves the most. While trying to right the wrongs of his past, he risks everything for the fight of his life.

There’s something quite enjoyable after watching a film that you look forward to watching it again – realizing there are so many subtle details worth taking note of that make that next viewing even more impactful. And that’s certainly the case with Jack Huston’s feature directorial debut Day of the Fight. In this film, which he also penned the script for, he offers a specific visual language and world in which his main character, wonderfully played by Michael Pitt (a reunion of sorts with fellow Boardwalk Empire cast mate – and Steve Buscemi too!) emotionally carries out a poignant and important life-changing day. It’s a slow burn – and worth every passing second.

Jack Huston recently spoke with Script about the direct inspiration behind the story and character for the film, creating the visual language, the importance of this character's emotional journey, utilizing location as a character, and so much more!

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: This film is very poetic. It's got this beautiful slow burn. It's one of those films that you definitely need to watch multiple times to catch all the different nuances.

Jack Huston: Aw, I'm so happy you said that. I always say it's better the second time. Anyone who watches it for a second time has the same reaction. That's so good of you to say that. Thank you.

Sadie: What was the inspiration for this specific story, and getting into this character’s headspace?

Jack: The seed was planted many years ago when I used to watch Michael [Pitt] punch sandbags when we were doing Boardwalk Empire in between takes and nipping off to the boxing gym. But it's funny when a story hits you. I was watching a documentary short of Stanley Kubrick's, the first thing he ever sold in 1951, it was just 15 minutes, Walter Cartier, a middleweight champion, just on the day of the prize fight. And I harken back to those films that made me fall in love with cinema and filmmaking in general.

The story, in essence, was quite simple, because they were human stories. They were relatable stories. You just have to find something that ups the ante. So, you find that one component that makes this day separate to all the other days, and it sort of inspired me. I was like, rather than it just being the day of a prize fight, what if this was his last day, and what if that day of the fight was he's fighting for everything in his life, not just the title? So, at that moment, remembering Michael and remembering the lovely relationship we've had for such a long time - and I find him such a sort of poetic soul in general. And he has this vulnerability and this sensitivity underneath this rather hard exterior and beautiful to work with when I was working with him back at the Boardwalk days.

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But I just saw this journey of this man who'd done something terrible, but wasn't terrible, was a good man, was a good human being. Because I find, everything's so divisive at the moment. It's like, good and bad! And we're against this person, and this person! And I was like, well, sometimes I do want to go to that love side of things that people that really matter in life are far more willing to forgive than we might expect, because we as humans are far more willing to forgive, because loving is far more easier than hating. And I wanted to tell a story, as you said, from the heart, from the soul, like something which is a character study, witnessing one man's struggle, one man's journey, who had been through terrible things in his life, but had the redemptive aspect of it, that sort of journey of penitence. Which, his dear friend, Patrick, played by John Magaro, talks about which is it's the journey that redeems us in essence.

Sadie: And you're lucky if you get to have that opportunity.

Jack: Absolutely, because he's knowing. It's all knowing to start the day in that way. It's like he's the only one aware of what's going to happen, so he's able to go and do - that's my big question - I said, Well, what would you do if you only have one day? Who would you speak to? What would you say? What would you do? And that's what we play around with.

Sadie: From getting this down onto the page and then interpreting all of that as a director to visually and dramatically tell this story, all the while showing this vulnerability through this character’s eyes – how did you approach all of that?

Jack: There's something so beautiful about Michael. And by the way, Michael was the first to admit it. He's had tough ups and downs publicly and known. It's funny where you feel like you're at that exact moment where it's the perfect time to make this picture. I feel like one had to really have lived a life, gone through some of those experiences. A lot of those experiences are personal experiences to me, and personal experiences that we both share, relationships in our lives that we've had with certain family figures and people.

But it's amazing with Michael, because he always had this amazing ability to sort of convey such kindness of heart, even through a certain struggle that was always going on. And you know some actors have this sort of innately within them. You put the camera on them, and something sort of exudes out of them that you can't put your finger on. You can literally just watch them do nothing, almost, and doing everything.

And it's magic. It's the magic of making films, and magic of certain moments where you do things, you go, 'Oh, that's the magic that they talk about.' Capturing that magic by certain actors. We have that in spades. Joe Pesci, if you can think about in the movie, it's like someone who doesn't say almost anything until later, but conveys so much history and gravitas and power, and yet you've gone on this whole journey, and you only see him in this one place, but you're able to make the history of the character in your head because of the power of Joe Pesci.

Sadie: Another great thing about this film is how you utilize your location as a character. We get to see how you emotionally invoke those surroundings, while also setting the tone and giving us a glimpse of life and what he's going through, and who he sees and interacts with.

Jack: Well, you're so good for saying that, because I always say, look, there's two other characters in the film. One is the location, like Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey, that's absolutely a character of the film. And music's another character the film. But talking about location, it's amazing how you have these ideas in it, and I wanted the film to feel large and small all at the same time. And Brooklyn, New York, what it is like in the docks, when he's walking through the city, all of this hubbub happening around him, but he's on this personal journey, this rather introspective journey, but with the backdrop of this huge metropolitan city in a certain period, which was quite a different time, 1989 Brooklyn, New York. But that's very much the visual side of it, the aspect of it. It couldn't exist anywhere else.

It's so funny, it's like where you realize you have your heart set on something, and it doesn't work without that. It's like getting the actor. If we weren't able to shoot where we were shooting and get those brilliant, beautiful, sort of backdrops of what he's walking through, because it turns out, it gives you the history of the character. And as you said, sometimes, all of those smaller characters, and you see how he's treated and loved within his community, of where he's been walking those streets ever since he was a kid, where his dad used to walk before him.

I think it's so interesting because it's the woodwork of putting the film together, you've got to believe in the history. You've got to believe this guy has walked these streets, that they've known him since he was a kid. And that's great. And that's where the real character actors come out as well. Beautiful, beautiful. I remember as the waitress, Kaili Vernoff, who's so wonderful and so great because she in such a short but integral scene, tells us exactly how the community feels about Mikey. It takes a real talent to get that across with such power and such sensitivity.

Sadie: In terms of the filming, the lensing, the post aesthetic process from turning this into not a true black and white, but also giving us some pops of color - it reminded me of the great film by Wim Wenders, Wings of Desire.

Jack: Oh god, I love that my goodness - Bruno Ganz, just unreal.

Sadie: Amazing. What was the creative inspiration and collaboration process like with your DP and especially your editor as well?

Jack: Oh, my God. Joe Klotz was just the most beautiful and wonderful man and editor. And then Peter Simonite, just gorgeous. It was great because we found Peter, and I have my first meeting with him, and we’re just simpatico, it's like we just gelled, and he completely understood from reading the script, tonally the visual style of what I was going for, which was, I said, ‘A life in a day’ we're trying to capture the poetry of that, which is, memories come fleetingly without beginning or end. Anything can be reminiscent can take us into that.

The black and white we shot on the Alexa 35 and used these gorgeous Leica lenses, because initially you would imagine, I have sometimes found black and white films when they do present day, sometimes can feel a bit flat. I said I wanted the depth, wanted to have that sort of noir aspect where we're really playing with light and shade. Because I find it's a little bit of what he's looking at throughout the day. He's living in Purgatory. He's trying to walk out of the darkness into the light…I say it's a bit of that like Elegy, in essence, like the final ride is almost crossing the river sticks with the taxi, with the boatman. We needed the grit, we needed the grain.

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I find black and white is almost like a magnifying glass into the soul, which is weird and ironic in essence, because you'd imagine color to be that. But I've always found when I look to black and white photos, like black and white films, there was almost this magnifying glass of the character. Somehow, all those lights and shades and those contrasts brought out the person more so maybe because it is magnified, because we are really seeing those lights and darkness.

And you're very good for noticing those moments of color. And that's usually what comes out in the second viewing, is you realize actually every single memory has bits of coloring, without question. There's always color in the memories, very desaturated color, but it's color nonetheless, because he's living in black and white, almost as the metaphor, and he's trying to paint these colors to his memories. So, it works as both a metaphor and just visually, I think, sort of stunning in that way. 

It's the films that made me fall in love with filmmaking, and a bit of homage to those films that aren't being made much anymore, that you know, hopefully, people who want to be inspired and want to go and make movies, they can watch a film that is actually about the human condition and about feelings and that it's OK to feel bad and to cry for somebody and to go on a journey with them. It's not all about the other stuff. [laughs]

Sadie: [laughs] Very true. I keep thinking of that particular scene where the dry cleaner’s son gives Mikey a piece of candy, and that pop of color – so subtle – and it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

Jack: That was something that I came up with on the day, because we know he's going to the graveyard later, but I just said because he's thinking about the kid and all the rest of it. But I was like, 'Well, what a thing that he's given.' I always say it's interesting - if children and animals like someone, it can be quite a good tell if their soul is good or not as a person. So, I love that children and animals are drawn to Mikey that was there from the get-go of his cat, with the boy and Sam, who he gives his jacket to. I wanted him to be pure of soul, of spirit. He's almost childlike in himself. How he writes in the beginning and spells ‘dear’ wrong - it's very much playing with that. And that's Michael, to me. He has this childlike quality, this innocence to him, which is beautiful.

Watch Day of the Fight exclusively in Theaters on December 6, 2024.