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Joe Pesci was on home turf in Jersey for “Day of the Fight,” an indie movie about a boxer on the redemption trail.
So was its star, West Orange native Michael Pitt.
Pitt (”Boardwalk Empire,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) — also known as Michael C. Pitt — leads the movie as fallen fighter Mike Flannigan.
“Day of the Fight,” now in limited release in New York and Los Angeles, is English actor Jack Huston’s feature directorial debut. He filmed the mostly black-and-white film in New Jersey (see full list of locations below), though it’s set in 1989 New York.
The movie follows Flannigan, a middleweight fighter long out of the ring, in the run-up to his first fight since leaving prison.
Pesci, the Oscar winner (”Goodfellas”) who grew up in Belleville, played boxer Joey LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” (1980). Here, he plays the lead character’s father.
Besides Pitt, 43, and Pesci, 81, the cast includes John Magaro (”Past Lives,” “The Many Saints of Newark”), Nicolette Robinson (”Chicago Med,” “Woman of the Hour”) and acting heavyweights Steve Buscemi and Ron Perlman.
Huston was inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s identically titled 1951 documentary short about a day in the life of Irish American boxer Walter Cartier. That “Day of the Fight” also filmed in Newark.
Huston, of course, has filmmaking in his blood.
His father is Oscar-nominated actor, writer and director Tony Huston, his aunt is Oscar-winning actor-director Anjelica Huston and his grandfather was Oscar-winning director John Huston.
Both Huston and Pitt were regulars on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” — Huston played Richard Harrow and Pitt played Jimmy Darmody.
Joe Marra, project officer with the New Jersey Motion Picture and TV Commission, tells NJ Advance Media that “Day of the Fight” started filming in New Jersey in December 2022 and continued in 2023.
The movie, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023, includes various locations in Pesci’s native Newark along with Paterson, Elizabeth, Jersey City and Hoboken, as well as the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton.
“Day of the Fight” recorded spending more than $7 million filming in Jersey.
The movie, which is rated R and runs 1 hour and 45 minutes, is now playing in New York at the AMC Lincoln Square 13 and Village East by Angelika (Huston and Pitt will have a Q&A there after the 7:15 screening Saturday, Dec. 7 and 3 p.m. showing Sunday, Dec. 8). The film will expand to more theaters next week.
Here are the Jersey locations where the movie filmed:
YMCA Newark, Broad Street
The former Salvation Army, Newark
Skylite Plaza Parking, Halsey Street, Newark
Unity Beef Halal Meat Market, Orange Street, Newark
60 Branford Place, Newark
550 Broad St., Newark
Private homes, Newark
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair
Green Hill Senior Living, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange
St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Grand Street, Paterson
The Art Factory (now closed), Spruce Street, Paterson
Nesty Dry Cleaner, Park Avenue, Paterson
St. Michael’s Church, Cianci Street, Paterson
Blax Wellness, Mill Street, Paterson
Park East Terrace, East 11th Avenue, Paterson
Hoboken Terminal
Pier A Park, Hoboken
Wicked Wolf bar, Sinatra Drive, Hoboken
Pet Shop bar, Newark Avenue, Jersey City
Private homes, Jersey City
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary and St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Smith St, Elizabeth
The former Spirito’s Restaurant, 714 Third Ave., Elizabeth
Union County Detention Center, Elizabeth
Grecian Cave, Elizabeth Avenue, Elizabeth
CURE Insurance Arena, Trenton
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at [email protected] and followed at @AmyKup.
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