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SOLAR ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION
Liam Neeson and Mark Wahlberg may be
among the biggest names in Hollywood action movies, but when it comes to “real
action stars” both celebrities admit to being fans of Filipino Boxing Champion
Manny Pacquiao.
Neeson who narrates the documentary
“Manny” says he has been a fan of Pacquiao “for many, many years.”
“What a boxer. He is one of the
greats,” the Irish actor said during his most recent guesting at ABC's Jimmy
Kimmel Live!
Kimmel and Neeson then chatted about
co-starring together in “Manny,” which will be having its world premiere during
the week-long South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on March 8,
2014.
“After I narrated [our] film, the
producer sent me an email with a little film footage of Manny saying to the
camera; ‘Hello, Liam, I look forward to meeting you,’ and I’m showing it to
everybody!” Neeson shared with the TV host. “I haven’t met him… but he is
a fantastic boxer.”
Pacquiao has appeared on the Kimmel
show several times, and Kimmel shared those moments as one of the guest
celebrities interviewed for the documentary.
Another very vocal Pacquiao fan is
Mark Wahlberg, who often visited the 8-division champion at the Wild Card Gym
in Los Angeles whenever Pacquiao trains there.
Wahlberg even credited Pacquiao as
his model when he portrayed retired boxer Mickey "Irish" Ward in the
movie, “The Fighter.”
“Every time he was training at Wild
Card Gym, I watched him because my whole approach was, I wanted to look like a
Manny Pacquiao-caliber fighter. I didn’t want to look like another actor who’s
doing an okay job,” he was quoted in one of his interviews.
Other personalities appearing in the
documentary include; actor Jeremy Piven; boxers Oscar de la Hoya and Evander
Holyfield, singer Dan Hill, respected sportswriters and boxing analysts as well
as friends and family of Pacquiao.
Directed by Ryan Moore and Leon
Gast, ‘Manny” takes a look at the inspiring life story of Pacquiao who rose
from poverty to become a ten-time boxing world champion, congressman, and
international icon.
Gast won an Oscar for best
documentary feature (1996) for “When We Were Kings” a film about the classic
match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman which happened in Kinshaha,
Congo, in 1974.
The film also features original
music by composer Lorne Balfe (Inception, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Sherlock
Holmes) and songs by Yardnoise with Chad Hugo (The Neptunes/NERD).
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