Terry Etim (left) and Ozzy Haluk square up before their Cage Fighting bout last year. Danny Dyer will star in a film version. Photograph: Christopher Thormond
Next year in Cannes, we may be treated to the sight of two grown men in a cage on the Croisette or on the beach, pounding each other to pieces in the name of promoting a movie.
This was one of the ideas floated after Vertigo (the production outfit behind The Football Factory and Outlaw) announced today it was throwing its hat in the ring with Cage Rage Championships to make a new $10m Rocky-style movie called Cage Rage.
The Brits have taken to Cage Rage with relish since it was brought to Britain earlier this year. One of the biggest fans of the sport is Vertigo's Allan Niblo, who will be producing the new film
"I approached it as a punter because I watch it every single night on Bravo and I am addicted to it," Niblo said in Cannes yesterday "Being down here and not having it for five days, I am desperate to get back and see some more. It a very addictive event."
To the untutored eye, cage wrestling may seem bloody and brutal. Niblo prefers the adjective "gladiatorial" Nor, he says, does it appeal only to men. "It's a glamorous night out. Amazingly enough, there are all these women that bay for blood. It often repulses them when they start with it, but when they go, they get addicted."
Danny Dyer, who has appeared in several Vertigo films, is also a Cage Rage fan and may appear in the movie. Several of the best real-life Cage Rage fighters are likely to be recruited.
If the first Cage Rage film is a success, Vertigo's Rupert Preston envisages that the company will try to develop it into a franchise. Nick Love is too busy making his big screen version of The Sweeney for Fox/DNA to direct himself, but will executive produce with Sam Tromans.
Cage Rage is shooting in the autumn. It should be ready in time for next year's Cannes festival. The UK lad audience is likely to embrace it as warmly as they have most previous Vertigo endeavours. Whether the Cannes selectors will be as enthusiastic remains to be seen. If the producers are looking for extras, they'll find plenty of potential recruits here - after all, when it comes to the Cage Rage-like arts of barging, pushing, elbowing, kicking and queue barging, the press in Cannes have few peers.
