“My nickname in CE2 was Rocky!” : In Challenger, Alban Ivanov enters the ring

With Challenger, Alban Ivanov meets director Varante Soujian for the fourth time after Walter (2018), Inséparables (2018) and La Traversée (2021). This time the actor and comedian plays Luke, a man who dreams of becoming a great boxer. But one day fate knocks on the door and throws our hero to the top!

Alban Ivanov’s return to cinema

Challenger marks Alban Ivanov’s return to cinema three years after 2021’s Les Méchants. In our cinemas and on the small screen with the series La Petite Histoire de France, Alban Ivanov had to take a break from his career after burning out. In a show on France Télévisions, Sunday in the villageThe actor also remembers this period: “For years we wanted to work so much that I didn’t know how to say no. It meant I was in robot mode! I stopped thinking about my physical and mental health..”

He adds: “It happened to me in Dunkirk, I played 20 minutes and I feel like I have nothing more to do, you have to rest.

Therefore, the actor took a break before leaving: “I understand that I have to say no and set new goals for myself, that it remains work. (…) I calmly recovered myself and returned to mode 2.0 feeling balanced.”

And so he returned with Challenger, a film for which he teams up with his accomplice, director Varante Soujian, three years after La Traversée. The director explains: “Alban Ivanov was very pleased with our experience at The Crossing. To cool him down, I said, ‘I could offer you anything, you’d take it.'” And he agreed.

French rock

The director has long wanted to make a film about the world of boxing, a sport he is a fan of. He states: “My co-author Thomas Pon and I share a passion, if not an absolute admiration, for the Rocky saga. We write the movies we want to see, and the idea of ​​making a boxing comedy has always appealed to us. Let’s just say the Challenger would never have seen the light of day without Rock. We will pay homage to this saga with some references, especially the first opus.”

Challenger Therefore, it was born from the passion of the director and screenwriter for the saga carried out by Sylvester Stallone. and play the trusted boxer, Alban Ivanov He trained at a Marseille boxing gym for six months, four to five times a week. The actor fell in love with this sport to the extent that he continued it even today.

“My nickname in third grade was Rocky.”

Alban Ivanov Says on our microphone:I’ve always loved boxing, but Rocky certainly made an impact on me. And then it’s kind of revenge, because I was called Rocky in elementary school because my mom pierced my ear: so I had a ring and went with perfefos, and as I liked to fight, my nickname in CE2 was Rocky. . I became French rock.”

Regarding Challenger, the actor adds : “We didn’t want to avoid references to Rocky. It’s a tribute to the influence that movie had on us. The idea was to do a French-style Rocky. And I believe we succeeded quite well. It will. Talk to the French about our own with codes”.

In the press kit, the actor adds, “I never thought I would make a boxing movie! But at the same time, I always hoped for it. It’s a bit like when I was asked to be the French voice of Pumbaa in The Lion King, I never thought it would happen. When unspoken dreams come true, it’s pretty good. In Challenger, I wanted to be my own boxer, with my own values, not a distant copy of The Rock.

Challenger Must see in cinema.