How A Phone Charger Led To The Creation Of Shawn Levy's Real Steel
Shawn Levy's 2011 sci-fi film "Real Steel" takes place in the near future of 2020 when boxing and MMA have been banned, having been replaced by high-octane robot fights. Robot "trainers" buy up powerful, tank-like fighting bots, program their unique fighting moves prior to a match, and then pit them against each other in outsize, heavily sponsored arenas. The robot to remain un-smashed is declared the victor. Hugh Jackman plays a former boxer turned robot trainer who aims to purchase a high-profile robot called Noisy Boy and relive his glory days, but his attempts fail. Instead, he begins seeing potential in a battered, unassuming, out-of-date sparring robot named Atom salvaged from a dump. The robots in "Real Steel" aren't alive, but Levy does throw in a handful of shots implying that Atom may be ... feeling something.
"Real Steel" wasn't talked about a lot upon its release, and only opened to $27 million domestically. The reviews, however, were generally positive, with most critics favoring the film's sense of wonderment, despite its kinda-silly premise. Levy managed to give "Real Steel" a slick sheen and a warm sentimentality usually encountered in Amblin productions. It's the kind of crowd-pleasing film that, when seen at age 9 or 10, can leave a lasting mark.
According to a 2021 oral history of "Real Steel" printed in EW, Levy and Jackman only thought to do the project together because they had met and become friends randomly in public. It seems that they happened to be waiting in the same airport and one of them required a phone charger that the other was happy to provide. That led to a "we should do something together" moment, eventually leading to "Real Steel."
Need a charge?
Both Jackman and Levy rose to prominence at about the same time. Levy's first feature, "Address Unknown" was released in 1997, but his first major hit was the kid-friendly Frankie Muniz vehicle "Big Fat Liar" in 2002. Jackman, meanwhile, exploded into the public consciousness playing Wolverine in Bryan Singer's "X-Men" in 2000. Levy continued to make hit comedies like "Cheaper By the Dozen," the "Night at the Museum" movies, and the surprisingly pretty good "Pink Panther" remake. Jackman appeared in multiple "X-Men" films, romantic comedies like "Kate & Leopold," and ambitious auteur films like "The Fountain," "The Prestige," and "Australia." Both Levy and Jackman were well-established and familiar with one another's work. It's likely that they would recognize each other in an airport lounge.
Levy recalls that they were each passing through New York with their families and that Jackman didn't have his phone charger, a drama that I'm sure most of us can relate to. Through a common "they got to talking" maneuver, the two became friends. Jackman said:
"I didn't have anything; my phone was about to run out. I asked Shawn [for a charger], and we never stopped talking and became friends. We hung out, and it was like, 'We've got to find something to do together.' Everyone had already said that to me because we were in the same worlds a lot: the Fox studio, [Chairman Tom] Rothman, and all those people. I remember, finally, Shawn said, 'I've got it. I've got the thing for us.'"
Jackman made the "X-Men" films, "Someone Like You," and "Australia" for 20th Century Fox, while the bulk of Levy's films were made at the studio. It seems the two were professionally closer than they had previously acknowledged.
Jackman will also appear in Levy's upcoming film, "Deadpool 3."