THE BIG It’s an incredible story and he’s such a cool guy to play

In Bleed For This, Miles Teller plays boxer Vinny Pazienza, who fought his way back to the ring after a near-fatal car crash. The Whiplash star talks to KATE WHITING about getting fit, being in a car crash and donning a leopard-print posing pouch

THERE’S a scene at the start of Miles Teller’s new boxing film, Bleed For This, where he makes an entrance at a weigh-in, pulling off a satin dressing gown to reveal his sculpted physique – in just a leopard print posing pouch.

“What did you call it?! I’ve heard it’s called a ‘banana hammock’,” says Miles, cocking his head with a grin.

The 29-year-old, who was nominated for a Bafta Rising Star Award after his intense student drummer turn in 2014’s Oscarwinning Whiplash, wasn’t daunted by the idea of exposing so much flesh on screen.

“Well, look, I knew that for that scene, [my character] Vinny’s at his lightest weight in the movie. I knew I was going to be at my lowest body fat, I knew theoretically that’s when I should look my best, so if you’ve done the work, you’re excited, you’re pumped!” he says, laughing.

“And I think, in that moment, Vinny did that same thing at a weigh-in – you get a pretty good idea of this character.”

Teller plays real-life boxing hero Vinny ‘Pazmanian Devil’ Pazienza, who, incredibly, came back from breaking his neck in a car crash to fight for the World Super Middleweight title.

For six months, Pazienza had to wear a metal ‘halo’ brace screwed into his skull to stabilise his spine. But against doctors’ orders, he started training again in his parents’ basement with the help of his coach Kevin Rooney, played by Aaron Eckhart.

Done with playing “students and people’s sons”, Miles says he was “looking for a more challenging type of adult role”.

“I wanted to explore what it was like to be a 27-year-old Italian-American champion boxer in the Eighties. To me, that’s a cool guy to play,” he says of the script’s appeal.

“But the thing that really made me want to do this project is the fact it’s such an incredible story about one of the greatest