The Featherweight

The Featherweight is a 2023 American biographical sports drama film directed by Robert Kolodny and starring James Madio as professional boxer Willie Pep. It premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2023. Plot Set in 1964, a direct cinema camera crew follows Willie Pep, retired two-time world featherweight boxing champion. Now living in Hartford Connecticut with his wife Linda (Ruby Wolf) an aspiring actress half his age, a drug-addled son (Keir Gilchrist), his Italian immigrant parents, mounting debts and the feeling of faded glory… Pep decides to make a return to the ring. Cast James Madio as Willie Pep Ruby Wolf as Linda Pep Keir Gilchrist as Billy Papaleo Jr. Stephen Lang as Bill Gore Ron Livingston as Bob Kaplan Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Sandy Saddler Shari Albert as Fran Imma Aiello as "Mama" Papaleo