Unique film on final years of Joe Frazier’s life to premier on Hulu “He got as much out of himself as there was to give – and maybe more. And that’s as much as you can ask of any man – including yourself.” Larry Merchant
It is a film that has been over four years in the making. Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears tells the remarkable story of Joe Frazier’s life, career and the sad demise of his Philadelphia gym. It will receive its US media premier on Hulu and will be available to view from Feb 1st.
Narrated by Joe’s son Marvis, the film has quite a story behind it. With unprecedented access to Joe’s life during his last years, the doc reveals a human side to the legendary fighter and shines a light on a unique icon.
Joe was due to attend the film’s festival premiere at New York’s DocNYC in November but in a sad and strange coincidence it turned out the premiere took place on the day Joe passed away.
Before it was known Joe had cancer, he got to see the film at a New York preview screening in May of last year. He described the documentary as the ““It really lets people see a true picture of what I am about and where I am coming from.”
Joe’s son Marvis has called the doc “touching and beautiful”. Joe’s manager Les Wolff has described the film as: “An extremely important and timely contribution to help people understand who Joe Frazier was as a human being. Joe loved the film and wanted people to see it.”
There are contributions from the likes of George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Angelo Dundee, Bernard Hopkins as well as Joe’s friends and family. Top international factual film making magazine Realscreen has called it a ‘must see observational documentary’.
Director Mike Todd stated that:
“This project has been a long road for us. We never quite appreciated while filming, how important our project would turn out to be in terms of preserving Joe’s legacy.
“We had a lot of conversations with a lot of broadcasters about where the best home for the film was. Ultimately we felt that Hulu was the right place, where people could see the film in its most honest form. The fact they are making the doc their first ‘Documentary Month’ and are promoting it for Black History month, we felt was very much in tune with the story we tried to tell.”
The film has also been backed by the World Boxing Council who paid tribute to Joe Frazier at their annual convention taking place Las Vegas in December, where the film was screened. WBC President Jose Sulaiman stated that:
The film is due to be released internationally this summer. More information can be found by visiting the website www.joefrazierfilm.com and facebook page www.facebook.com/joefrazierfilm The film will be free to view on www.hulu.com throughout February. The direct link to the film is: http://www.hulu.com/watch/322857/joe-frazier-when-the-smoke-clears
