Bisping: The Michael Bisping Story, is out on digital and on-demand, and takes a look at the life and career of Michael Bisping who is a UFC legend. Michael Hamilton directed the documentary but knew very little about UFC when he took on the project. PopCulture.com recently caught up with Hamilton who revealed the biggest thing he learned about Bisping.
“The thing that shocked the crap out of me, excuse my mouth, was his eye,” Hamilton exclusively told PopCulture. “The eye situation, the trials and tribulations of what he went through was mind-blowing. I knew about it obviously because I did my research and whatnot, but the extent of the stuff that he went through.
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“You know how there’s those movies out there where you watch a scripted movie and you’re like, okay, this movie’s got to end. How are the writers going to get them out of this situation? It was that scenario with his eye. I’m like, okay, this is it. He can’t move on from here, it’s over. But he found a way to kind of weasel in and change and pivot and figure out how to just stay in being a fighter. To me, that’s the craziest thing I learned from making this film is how he got through the whole eye situation, and you’ve got to watch the film to really understand what he actually went through.”
Hamilton has been directing documentaries and docuseries for 20 years and is known for taking on all genres. This is the first time Hamilton has tackled UFC and he wanted to direct the film as soon as he heard Bisping’s story. “I just had a general meeting with his management and I didn’t even know Michael the time and they told me, Hey, we rep a guy and he’s had this eye issue and all this. And I’m like, oh my God, crazy. Never heard anything else from there. Fast forward maybe six, seven months and then my producing partner, Adam Scorgie came to me and said, “Hey, we’re doing this film about Michael Bisping.” I’m like, oh, I heard that name.”
Hamilton continued: “I didn’t know too much about the UFC. I was a fan but I wasn’t a diehard and I didn’t really know much about Mike. Anyway, Adam hooked up a meeting in Hollywood with myself, Adam and Michael Bisping, and leaving that meeting and hearing Mike speak and just talking to him for hours, I was like, man, this is a crazy story and I need to do this film. And it was Mike, Mike sold it. Just his passion and just what he went through and just how he’s a natural storyteller, it cemented it and I was like, yeah, I’m the guy for this. I’m going to kill this film.” Bisping lost sight in an eye while competing but continued his career to win the UFC Middleweight Championship. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2019.
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NEW YORK CITY – DECEMBER 19: "Toil and Trouble" – Elsbeth is thrown into the world of television after the showrunner of a long-running police procedural is brutally murdered in his office, and although it appears to be the act of a disgruntled fan, she begins to suspect the show's longtime star Regina Coburn (Laurie Metcalf) who yearns for artistic fulfillment. Meanwhile, Judge Crawford (Michael Emerson) continues to be a thorn in Elsbeth's side, on the CBS original series ELSBETH, Thursday, Dec. 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs). Pictured (L-R): Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni and Carra Patterson as Kaya Blanke. (Photo by Michael Parmelee/CBS via Getty Images)
