Introducing Gentlemen's Fury. It appears to be equal parts Fight Club, misguided Goodfellas and cheeky rom-com, and it becomes available on May 23.
Yes, expect huckster jokes, huckster violence and a couple romantic entanglements. This is a rowdier Wimbledon—and one with a lead actor who can actually hit the ball. Star, screenwriter and director Ben Sharples played college tennis, and actually coached ATP player Zack Fleishman at the 2011 US Open.
The movie, starring Starring Ben Sharples (from Flight 7500), Jake Head (from Ted) and Audrey Ellis Fox (from Law & Order: SVU), expands on the story of fictional former ATP player Aaron Furst. Furst gets ousted from the tour after punching a prickly opponent on court, and dips into the sub-niche world of warehouse fighter tennis and meets all the wrong people—namely other former ATP players removed from the sanctioned sport due to similar infractions.
The film references events that pro-tennis followers will understand, including passing shots about Wayne Odesnik's HGH episodes, Jeff Tarango's haranguing of a chair umpire at Wimbledon and Nikolay Davydenko's alleged match-fixing (for which he was cleared), among other notorious moments in the sport.
Gentlemen's Fury leads an actually crowded year (or month) for tennis-centric flicks. Forthcoming motion pictures about the John McEnroe–Bjorn Borg rivalry (starring Shia LaBeouf) and the original Battle of the Sexes contest between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs (with Emma Stone and Steve Carell) are on tap to debut on September 15 and September 22, respectively.
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