‘Hands of Stone’ Joins This Year’s Oscar Race

Article Image
Photo Source: YouTube

The life of Roberto Durán gets a stirring and thrilling big-screen adaptation with “Hands of Stone,” a new awards season-friendly film from writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz. As the trailer below indicates, this is a movie that pulls no punches.

Starring up-and-coming actor Édgar Ramírez as the famous Panamanian boxer, “Hands of Stone” traces Durán’s journey from the slums of his hometown, to his professional boxing debut in 1968 at age 16, to his world-renowned WBC welterweight fight in 1980 with Sugar Ray Leonard (played by musician Usher Raymond IV). Two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro plays Ray Arcel, the trainer who led 18 boxers, including Durán, to world championships.

To be released Aug. 26, “Hands of Stone” comes to theaters before another 2016 awards season movie about professional boxing: “Bleed for This,” starring Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart. Will the two films take each other on in the Oscar ring? Watch the trailer below.

Want to compete for an Oscar? Check out our film audition listings!