"The Fighter" and Micky Ward

"Why are you doing a post about a movie that has already come out and is already on netflix Greg?" Well to answer that, simply, I've got a cool little story related to Oscar award winning movie that I would like to share. Last year I was part of Gallery 1988's show and marketing promotion for the film "The Fighter". As part of the show, a few of us artists including Dabs and Myla, Brandi Milne, Graham Curran, and Peek-a-boo Monster, were asked to paint on a couple of boxing gloves to be on display at the event following the private screening of the movie. It was a good time and I enjoyed the movie to say the least. Flash forward to about a month ago at the Crazy 4 Cult book signing I ran into Mickey Worsnup, the owner of one of the gloves I painted "Float like a... Sting like a...". Here is his story about this painted glove.

While working in Marketing at Paramount Pictures I was fortunate enough to get to work on THE FIGHTER. I am a boxing fan and have been a fan of Micky Ward since his fighting days- so it was a very cool opportunity to get to work on the film. I oversaw the online creative marketing efforts for the film which included working with Gallery 1988 to put together the awesome art event. I was extra stoked when Jensen said that you would be doing a piece. It was, of course, badass – and I had to have it- so I bought it as soon as it was available. Regarding the signature- once I had the glove it just sorta dawned on me the potential awesomeness of getting Micky to sign it. The only opportunity to get it done was the day of the 2011 Academy Awards. He and Dicky were at the Four Seasons prior to being taken over to the awards. I stood in the lobby for at least an hour waiting for them to come down. The place was a mad house as pretty much everyone was dealing with Academy actors and talent. I had the glove hidden in a bag and just had to stand around by the elevators like I was suppose to be there. Finally I was able to intercept them on the way out and get Micky to sign the glove and take a picture with me. He was obviously overwhelmed with the craziness of the day but was beyond cool, obliged my request and complimented the glove before being whisked away. The glove was in the room later that night as we watched Christian Bale win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and they showed Micky and Dicky’s reaction. ‘Twas very cool.

Here are some pictures of the glove amongst Mickey Worsnup's collection.





(Micky Ward with Mickey Worsnup)
Thanks for sharing Mickey, it's much appreciated.
-Greg

-oh and just to complete the pair, here is the other Glove I painted for the show:)