Christopher Walken has 'Balls of Fury'

'Balls of fury' is a new film currently filming, set in the world of high-stakes underground ping-pong.




Christopher Walken is playing a crime boss involved in the high-stakes world of underground ping-pong tournaments. Seeing as Balls of Fury was written by the guys who brought us Reno 911!, I'm not surprised by the ridiculous outfits they have Walken wearing.

Comic-Con 2006: Balls of Fury Panel
Christopher Walken dons long nails and a geisha wig for a kick-ass movie about ping pong and Def Leppard.

"If you like Def Leppard and Christopher Walken in nail polish, you'll like this," said Thomas Lennon, speaking at the Balls of Fury segment of the Rogue Pictures panel at Comic-Con 2006.

Lennon and Ben Garant, Reno 911! favorites and The State alums, made an appearance at the panel to promote the film, which is about a super-secret ping pong tournament in China. "It's real, real dumb," the pair both said. Garant directed the film and co-wrote it with Lennon.

"It's like if you took a movie like Bloodsport or Over the Top and took out all the kung-fu and replaced it with ping-pong."

Relative newcomer Dan Fogler stars as Randy Fontana, a man who lost his father to ping pong and must avenge his father's death by training to be a world-class table tennis star.

Christopher Walken co-stars as Feng, a maniacal figure who lords over the secret tournament dressed in geisha robes and wearing elaborate wigs. "He's like Pumpkin from Memoirs of a Geisha," Lennon said in a separate interview.

The footage shown at Comic-Con revealed some of the elaborate costuming Teng wears in the movie, and many of them rival the kimono-inspired look of Natalie Portman in Episode One.

Maggie Q, who wowed audiences in Mission: Impossible 3, takes a comedic turn here, but that doesn't stop her from "kicking people in the face. Every six minutes, she kicks someone in the face," said Lennon. In the footage shown, she appears to be a big part of the movie, so Q fans should queue up early (pun crime).

In addition to Walken and Q, Garant said, "Anyone who is great in Reno is also in this movie," and the trailer showed a glimpse of Patton Oswalt, who is described as "the Clubber Lang of Balls".

Def Leppard also figures heavily into the fabric of the film. Several tracks will be featured, and Fogler sports a Leppard T-shirt during much of the film. The band has been contacted about possibly appearing on the film's closing credits.

Trailer here.

Release Date: Spring 2007 (wide)

Starring: Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q, Thomas Lennon 

Directed by: Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911!)

Premise: In this secret society, the competition is brutal; the stakes are high. It is the unsanctioned, underground, and utterly unhinged world of clandestine Ping-Pong tournaments. Down-and-out former professional ping-pong phenom, Randy Daytona, is sucked into this maelstrom when FBI Agent Rodriguez recruits him for a secret mission. Randy is determined to bounce back and win, and to smoke out his father's killer--arch-fiend Feng.

While the trailer didn't really crack me up or anything, I think it's got potential.

If it can generate just a half of Big Trouble in Little China's mad energy, it will be the best movie of all time.

Outside of David Lo Pan being in this movie, how could you even THINK of Big Trouble in Little China when watching this? 

Honestly, after Beerfest, there is pretty much no reason to do a "training for a silly underground competition" comedy ever again. 

And God, I never thought I'd say this but... I'm tired of Walken.  No one's utilizing his quirkiness properly anymore, except maybe Tony Scott.

New Trailer here. (Windows Media)