Posted in: Interview, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Joanna Cassidy, lionsgate, Uppercut

Uppercut Star Joanna Cassidy on Love of Boxing, 'Roger Rabbit' & More

Joanna Cassidy (Killing Faith) spoke to Bleeding Cool about Lionsgate's boxing drama Uppercut, her love for the sport, Roger Rabbit & more.

Joanna Cassidy is always looking for the next challenge as an actor, even as she's amassed an impressive nearly six decades of on-screen work since her debut in the Steve McQueen classic Bullitt in 1968. Some of her earliest work includes appearances on Mission: Impossible, Taxi, Starsky and Hutch, 240-Robert, Dallas, Charlie's Angels, Trapper John, M.D., and The Love Boat. While predominantly a force on TV, she landed the role of replicant Zhora in the 1982 Ridley Scott masterpiece Blade Runner. With nearly 180 credits to her name, Cassidy isn't slowing down anytime soon with appearances on CBS's Matlock and NCIS: New Orleans, Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q, and the BET+ remake of Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. Cassidy spoke to Bleeding Cool about her latest in the Lionsgate boxing drama Uppercut, working with writer-director Torsten Reuther on the remake from his 2021 German original, her love for boxing, the "exchange of energy" with her co-stars, and if there's a project she would love to revisit. Uppercut follows Toni (Luiii) trying to make her mark as a boxing manager for Payne (Jordan E. Cooper), reflecting on her own boxing training from legend Elliott (Ving Rhames).

Uppercut Star Joanna Cassidy on Her Love for Boxing, Acting, and Favorite Time Periods

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about the film? Did you see Torsten's original 2021 film?

I watched his original and am very fond of the German people. I have a lot of friends in Germany, and I thought to myself, "Well, this is a great new filmmaker who's got a tremendous respect for women, and he's given his star an opportunity to shine." That's absolutely admirable. He wanted her to look as best as she could to come across and express herself, which she did.

How do you break down the set he ran?

When I got to New York to shoot this piece, we were in the middle of a strike, which was very chaotic. It was even almost impossible to set a time. I got there one day, and we were going to shoot two or three days out, and then they changed it up at the last minute, and they were able to shoot the next day. Being in the middle of that strike was tough for all of us because we didn't know if the shooting would take place, and when we got on the set, Torsten was so cool. He was relaxed, soft-spoken, happy, and cared about everyone. He was wonderful.

Was there anything you had to do to prep to play as Rita? What does a role like this allow you to do as an actor that you wouldn't normally be able to do?

Well, a part like this is not…I didn't have to pull apart my brain to do this role because it was so physical. I've been in a ring many times. I love the ring. I love boxing. I love the animal quality of it. It's very challenging and quite unique. I watched the 'Rocky' films again, and like I said, I hung around a ring for two years, so I would sit and watch the guys in the corner fix up the boxers and encourage them to get out there again so that was my preparation.

What was it like working with Jordan E. Cooper and Luiii?

There's such a hierarchy going into shooting a film that you go by the people who have had the most experience, and then you get the new young actors. In my case, it's always about everybody winning or everybody losing. I want everyone to be fabulous. That's very important to me, so if I start hearing that someone is speaking of me as an icon, I say, "Okay, let's get rid of that right now. I'm just Joanna Cassidy here to play Rita. Today, that's what it's going to be."

If I must scare you, I'll do it in another way. That's not because of my experience or my credentials. It's going to be in another way. It'll be in a way that either comes from the actor's studio or some kind of basic acting training, so the answer to the question is, "I love working with new actors and young people because they have so much to teach me." Their styles and approaches are different, and their energy is new and different. They've been teaching and learning from new acting coaches. There's always a great exchange of energy.

Is there a kind of project out there that's eluded your grasp that you still want to do?

I do what I want to do, and it's hard in this town to tell people what you want to be and make them believe it because they go, "Well, she was born in blah, blah, blah," and "We don't see her as that. It has to be somebody that's 30," and I go, "No, it doesn't!" I want to play like a Don Johnson from 'Miami Vice.' I want to play that, a really tough character, so I'm going to get some new photographs done with the turtleneck and like a female Don. That's what I want to do.

Is there a universe you could revisit? Which would you like to do again?

I would say that I have a film coming out called 'Killing Faith' with Bill Pullman and Guy Pearce that was shot in the time of the 1800s. I love that. I love the 40s. Yeah, 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' (1988) I should have been acting in the '40s. I love the style, dress, and makeup. I loved everything about the '40s. The heels, everything. I would say those two time periods, the '40s and the 1800s, the Wild West.

Uppercut is available in theaters, digital and on-demand.

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