Hulu's They Fight brings a touching and inspirational true story to the streaming service. The film follows André Holland's Walt, a formerly incarcerated coach who finds new purpose in life when he takes a gig training a group of adolescent boxers in Southeast Washington, DC, alongside an unexpected mentor, Wendell Pierce's Slim.
The film, which releases on July 17, was inspired by a 2018 Fox Sports documentary of the same name, which told the story of the real-life characters on which the new 2026 film is based. Though, as with most retellings, director Sheldon Candis chose to fictionalize some elements to elevate the themes and messages of the sports movie he wanted to make.
The Direct sat down with stars Wendell Pierce (of recent Superman fame) and André Holland, alongside director Sheldon Candis, to discuss the challenges everyone faced in bringing their characters to life.
They Fight Stars on the Challenges of Becoming Their Characters
"I'm Always Questioning the Character and the Story..."
- The Direct: "André and Wendell, what was the most challenging aspect for both of you when it comes to your character and bringing their journey to life? And then what came easiest to you?"
Wendell Pierce: I wouldn't say there was a level of comfort. I would say not that it comes easy, because you always, for me, I'm always questioning the character and the story, and there's an interrogation of the material constantly looking for the truth and the reality of it, so there's a constant interrogation, but the comfort came from the fact that we shared that interrogation, you know? He's like, what is the scene about, what are our relationships about, what are you trying to capture with the camera, what is the scene, what are you trying to capture here? And so that was really comfortable.
"The exploration and interrogation of looking for something is real and pure," Pierce explained.
Pierce: The exploration and interrogation of looking for something that is real and pure, and the best way that we can portray it that was comfortable. So I guess the answer would be the same thing that was the most difficult thing, that is always the most challenging thing to find that authenticity to interrogate the material and the world so much so, and create it so strongly that it induces the behavior. But at the same time, the pursuit of that was one of the most comforting, and because we were all on the same page, that is a shared ideal.
For André Holland, who plays the lead character Walt Manigan, "the boxing part came easy," while the challenging part was "figuring out who this person is:"
André Holland: I think that the boxing part came easily, because I like boxing, but the parts of, like, working with the kids, and being in the gym, and doing the workouts, and stuff, felt fun to me. I think the challenging thing is like figuring out who this person is, and trying to fill in the blanks of like what their life might have been.
The actor noted the sage advice he got from his old acting teacher, something he still uses to this day:
Holland: My old actor teacher, one of them used to say, like, good actors play objectives and great actors play relationships, and so trying to figure out what this character's relationship is to everybody in the movie, both like at present and also with the past, and also like what his future version of the relationship, you know, his wishful version of it might be. Trying to fill in those blanks was challenging, but like fun challenging, not arduous.
They Fight director Sheldon Candis chimed in, calling his time on the film "the most fulfilling, greatest experience:"
Sheldon Candis: As a filmmaker, one of the main things that you're hoping and striving for when you make a movie is the trust of the actor, and it, for me, this has been the most fulfilling, greatest experience for me as an artist and a filmmaker because they felt like family and they felt, I felt safe, and also I feel like a good director knows when to get out of the way.
Candis elaborated that while directors know when to get out of the way of the actors, they also know "when to insert themselves:"
Candis: But also, a good director knows when to insert themselves. But there is a dance there. But the thing that I love so much about working with Wendell and Andre was, you could feel this safe space, no matter how crazy a day was, or where it was going, it was always about the art, the page, the characters, the moment, and that you're not, you don't always get that on a film set.
