Actor and director Jack Huston's rich family history in Hollywood did not guarantee him an effortless process when directing and writing his first feature film, Day of the Fight.
"I can, without question, say this has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," said Huston, grandson of late director John Huston and son of actor and assistant director Tony Huston.
"It's also still happening. The film hasn't come out yet. I mean, every day is still a fight. It's fight of the day not day of the fight. Every day is a new fight, a new hurdle," he continued.
Day of the Fight stars Michael Pitt, Nicolette Robinson, Joe Pesci, Steve Buscemi, Ron Perlman, and John Magaro. It opens in US cinemas on Friday.
Jack Huston's great-grandfather Walter Huston was a leading man during Hollywood's silent film era and won an Oscar for the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by John Huston, who also won two Oscars for directing and writing that film, which was based on the B Traven book of the same name.
John Huston also directed the classic 1972 boxing drama Fat City, which was based on screenwriter Leonard Gardner's book of the same name.
Jack Huston's aunt, Hollywood star Anjelica Huston, and his uncle, director and actor Danny Huston, are well-known in the industry.
Huston took some family advice when casting the lead Michael Pitt, who portrays Mike Flannigan, otherwise known by his boxer name Irish Mike, a terminally ill fighter trying to make amends in his life before he dies.
"I take a nice piece of advice I heard my grandfather say, which is '90% is casting'," said Huston.
"I wrote every word for Michael Pitt. I knew that it was going to be Michael Pitt. I wouldn't have it any other way. I believe that when you cast an actor, you're giving them the role, that they own it now," he added.
Huston and Pitt formed a bond while working together on the HBO crime drama Boardwalk Empire.
The film ends with the boxing fight.
"We had a day and a half on the boxing scene and in sort of relation to other boxing movies, that's a tenth, you know, probably a hundredth of what some other movies have had. But thank God I had Mike (Michael Pitt) as my sort-of partner in crime," the American Hustle actor said.
However, Pitt felt he let down the production after asking for a five-minute break during the fight scene.
"I was like, 'I'm tired'," Pitt said. "I didn't condition myself well enough. And then someone told me how long we had been shooting. We'd been shooting for like eight hours. And I was like, 'Oh, I'm fine'."
Source: Reuters
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