Haymaker, out for limited screening on January 29, follows a retired Muay Thai fighter who returns to the ring in the name of love. Nick Sasso wrote and directed the film in addition to starring in it alongside Nomi Ruiz.
Sasso spoke to Screen Rant about his inspiration for the storyline and his experience shooting in Thailand.
Where did the idea for this story come from?
Nick Sasso: I don't know exactly where the idea came from, or the exact moment it kind of occurred to me. I think it was a combination of me being really eager to get the movie made, and having struggled with a bunch of other movies that I wasn't acting in. I kept, in my notes, returning to this idea that, "You know how to box; you know how to fight. You should do it and you act." And the other part of my mind is like, "But you don't want to write and direct. That's too much."
It was a combination, really, out of necessity. After this one script I had really came close to getting off the ground at an agency; after it fell through, I said the agent, "Who are we sending it to next?" He was like, "What else do you got?" And I was just like, "What about this?" And he's like, "Yes, I want to read that." So I was like, "Okay, I guess I gotta go write this thing."
I think that was really the birthplace of that, and also wanting to make movies that I felt like we connect with - not just people who are into boxing, but hopefully a good date movie, maybe.
Can you talk to me about how you and Nomi Ruiz ended up collaborating on this project?
Nick Sasso: Yeah, sure. We both had a mutual friend named Chico Mann, who's actually got some music in the movie. I went to see him perform out in Brooklyn, and I'd seen Nome in ing. I think that kind of sat in my brain, along with an experience that a good friend of mine had dating a trans woman. Nothing at all to do with the movie itself, but in of being clued into this as a thing - which I hadn't really ever thought about before. I mean, this is going way back, pre-Caitlyn Jenner.
I basically reached out after I wrote it; I reached out to Marcos, who's behind Chico Mann, and I was like, "Can you connect me? I would love to see if she wants to read for this." And then she connected. I was so wanting her to do the movie, based on what I knew of her as a performer and an artist, so I was like, "Alright, let's just get together so I can pitch this movie." So we got together, and I basically acted out the whole movie for her. She was smiling the whole time, like, "This sounds really interesting."
Then I brought her in, and we started reading it and rehearsing it. We could just tell right out of the gate that it felt right, and she was interested in, so we worked together. I also really wanted her to have a say in the process and to produce the movie, and to really help be a part of bringing it together, because I knew it needed to be a t effort in that way.
What I love about this film, too, is the look of it. You have so much experience with visual effects and bring that stuff to life, but you also have this great street sense about you with your shooting. Can you talk to me about how some of your previous experiences informed this project?
Nick Sasso: Making movies or commercials and videos is really like being an illusionist. I really like love old time magic, believe it or not, like card magic and stuff like that. Spending a lot of time in post-production, you really learn a lot about the craft of illusion, and how people are achieving certain looks after they shot things, more so than in camera. I sensed that could play to my advantage, being on a shoestring budget.
I had to explain this to the DP and producers as well, in of like what we were going for. Because we had such a limited amount of time, we couldn't even light stuff the way we wanted to all the time; we couldn't remove certain things from the frame. And because of the experience I had, I always knew that I could get in there in the computer to do what I needed to do.
That's one of the reasons why this movie took so long. I was being post on this by myself for over a year, retouching every single shot in the movie. Just to get it to feel that way, because I also knew I wanted it to have a look that lends itself to the story and hopefully had something unique about it that could connect with a wide audience.
It seems like your mentor was screenwriter David Rayfiel. Can you talk to me about how that mentorship helped you inform the writing of some of these characters?
Nick Sasso: I think the biggest takeaway is a character could be saying one thing, but he or she is saying something totally different. A conversation could be about a cup of coffee, but it has nothing to do with the coffee. That was the biggest lesson, because I felt that even with a movie like this, I could tell a classic story with slightly different characters. I felt like the less I had these characters talk about what the conflicts were behind the first layer, the more the audience could hopefully engage in the connection between them.
He was just so good about dialogue and structure. He unfortunately ed before this script was written, but I'm always aware of those lessons that he gave me.
I noticed that when you were shooting in Thailand, it almost felt like a documentary following Nick is the fighter. Some of those training scenes looked absolutely brutal. Can you talk to me about about some of those shots?
Nick Sasso: First, I just want to shout out Thailand: the most amazing crew we had on the entire shoot; the most ive, amazing country. We couldn't have shot that stuff if some of the folks that came on board to help us didn't do it. It just has such a special place in my heart, Thailand. Amazing.
With regard to the action stuff, the brutal stuff, I've been training for a long time. I knew that was something we were gonna be doing in the movie, and we did sort of take it from a documentary standpoint. All the fighters are fighters; those aren't actors. These are my friends.
In of getting those shots, when Saenchai knees me out of the ring? He's the greatest of all time. He's an active fighter today and literally a legend in Muay Thai. That gym is actually the gym that he started out in when he was a kid. Those little kids live literally in the ceiling of that gym. You know those kids that are hitting the heavy bag? These parents drop them off at these gyms hope that these these kids can become great fighters. Literally, there's a ladder. You can see it for a glimpse in one of the shots, you can climb up the ladder from one of the rings and go into this little loft where the kids sleep.
I went there, and I was like, "Yo, let's just do it. Let's just get after it." For a day. we did that. And when he knees to get out of the ring, he actually did that. That wasn't me pretending to fall out; he actually stopped and laughed like, "Oh shit." But the truth is, that's also what Thai sparring is like. It's competitive, and this is what I love about fight culture in Thailand. They really do this dance of walking right up to the line, where it's crossing the line, but not doing it. Someone lands a big shot on you, but it's not a big shot to hurt you. As someone who trains in the sport, you have to not overreact. You have to beat them at that little line and not cross it. That's an exercise that just pays off in spades for the rest of your life.
I love the chemistry with you and Nomi. At its essence, it's not just a fight story, but also a love story. What are you hoping audiences take away from Haymaker?
Nick Sasso: I think really this idea of opening up. There's such a weird disconnect online; everybody seems to hate everybody and seems to know what the hell's going on. You drive to the grocery store, and everybody seems pretty peace. No one's getting into fights in the parking lots, right? So, there's this weird disconnect between online and reality. And I think everybody's carrying around with them this sense of, "How am I different from everybody else?"
I didn't really set out to do this so much from a liberal point of view, but I just hope people can open themselves up to loving and accepting people despite their differences. You're open to receiving connections with people, and I'm not just talking about love connections but any connection, like friendship. It can come from all walks of life; it doesn't have to be your little safe bubble.
Haymaker is now available in theaters, VOD, and Digital