Ang Lee reportedly making 3-D boxing film

If one of the main draws for 3-D filmmaking and exhibition has always been its immersive, “you are there” quality, what if someone put viewers smack in the middle of a brutal, bloody boxing match? And has no one thought of this before?

Ang Lee may be following up his 3-D “Life of Pi,” for which he won his second Oscar for directing, with a project that would give viewers a ringside seat on some of the most iconic boxing matches of modern times, it was reported today.

A dramatic story to be written by two-time Oscar nominee Peter Morgan, the film would be set against the world of boxing in the 1960s and ‘70s and would include a re-creation of “The Thrilla in Manila,” the 1975 fight that pitted Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali against each other for the third time, according to the Deadline Hollywood report. Universal Pictures, where the project is said to be set up, did not respond to a request for comment.

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The project would mark another twist in the diverse filmography of Lee, the Taiwan-born director whose films include “Eat Drink Man Woman,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Ice Storm,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Hulk” and “Brokeback Mountain.”

Morgan, nominated for his scripts for “Frost/Nixon”and “The Queen,” is a specialist in dramatizing real events. Among his other works are the soccer story “The Damned United” and “The Last King of Scotland.” His next release is the race-car drama “Rush.”

Lee’s “Life of Pi” also won an Oscar for its 3-D photography, though it wasn’t immediately clear if cinematographer Claudio Miranda would shoot the new project as well.

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