I,ocal folks make film debuts in `against the Ropes."

rescheduled for June, this time in
Cleveland. Because of the change in
plans, the group was smaller than
hen Detroit audiences
originally planned, but they were no
less enthusiastic.
see Against the Ropes,
Among those making their film
inspired by boxing
debut were Carolyn Krieger-Cohen
manager Jackie Kallen,
ey may recognize
of West
more than a few
Bloomfield, a
familiar faces.
longtime friend
Native Detroiter 2
of Kallen's; her
Konen first invited a
mother,
group of local
Winnie Krieger
friends and family
of Farmington
mernbers to a film-
Hills; and
ing session in
Krieger-
Toronto in April
Cohen's two
2002 to serve as
daughters,
extras in one of the
Alanna Cohen,
fight scenes. But the
11, and Alissa
day before they
Cohen,
9.
Jackie Kallen, right, with grandson
were to leave, the
Both
Alarma
Chase Kallen of Commerce, left, and
group received word son Brad Kallen of Sylvan Lake, center and Alissa
that Kallen had to
enjoyed get-
have emergency
ting their hair
heart surgery in California..
and make-up done on the set, and
they were thrilled to meet actor
Fortunately, Kallen recovered
quicldy, and the filming was
Tony Shalhoub, who plays boxing

RONELLE GRIER

Special to the Jewish Arews

PUNCH from page 43

Jackie Kallen: "I thought, All right,
I've lost a round or two, maybe even
the fight, but I'm not out of the
game yet. —

whose manager had just been killed
in a drive-by shooting. "He kicked

2/20
2004

46

over his spit bucket because he was
unhappy with the way he had
sparred, which I liked," she said
with relish.
Kallen convinced Toney to sign
with her, and before long she had a
stable of fighters, whom she man-
aged like a Jewish mother. She put
them up at her home, cooked them
high-protein meals, ironed their
shirts before press conferences, took
them to plays and taught them table
manners.
The mostly African-American box-
ers attended her son's bar mitzvahs
and wore Stars of David on their
trunks, in honor of Kallen.
By the early 1990s, she had become
so successful that she earned up to
$400,000 a year and lived in a luxuri-
ous home with two Ferraris and a
bedroom-sized closet filled with
flashy outfits.
But in 1994, Kallen suddenly
found herself down for the count.
After losing his title, Hearns
replaced her; Kallen's mother died of
cancer in 1996; her father was inca-

kingpin Sam LaRocca in the film.
It was really a once in a lifetime
experience," said Krieger-Cohen.
We watched Meg [Ryan] and Tony
[Shalhoub] do a scene from less than
10 feet away. And we were treated
amazingly well by the cast and crew.
But it was a long day, lots of waiting
around between scenes."
Glenn Hirsch of Bloomfield Hills,
commissioner for the Michigan
Athletic Board and former interna-
tional boxing judge, also appears in
the fight scene filmed in Cleveland.
"I've known Jackie for years," said
Hirsch. "She's more devoted to boxing
than anybody else I know; she was like
a mother to many of her boxers and
their children. She's also a real lady"
When Meg Ryan first walked
onto the set, I looked at the outfit
she was wearing and it was so Jackie,
right down to her long polished nails.
Jackie is a very self-confident
woman who knows how to take care
of herself, and Meg did a great job,"
Krieger-Cohen added.
Of seeing herself portrayed on the
silver screen, Kallen said
"Watching Meg play me was almost
surrealistic. She was dressed like
me, she wore her hair like me, and
she even talked like me. It was an
out-of-body experience that not
many people get to experience.

,

pacitated by a stroke the same year;
and in 1997, her husband of three
decades announced he wanted a
divorce.
Five days later, Kallen hopped a
plane for Los Angeles, where she
rented a two-bedroom apartment to
"make a fresh start," she said. She
was delayed, for a time, by a breast
cancer scare (lumpectomies revealed
no malignancies).
But even while grieving her losses,
Kallen was brainstorming about
how to use her boxing savvy to rein-
vent herself.
"I thought, All right, I've lost a
round or two, maybe even the fight,
but I'm not out of the game yet,"'
she said.
The result was her 1997 self-help
book, Hit Me With Your Best Shot: A

Fight Plan For Dealing With All ofLift's
Hard Knocks (which has recently been
reissued; Penmarin Books; $14.95.)
and, ultimately, her movie.
In 2000, she learned that an old
Jackie Kallen biopic project was being
resurrected with Meg Ryan attached;

Alissa Cohen, left, and Alanna Cohen,
right, flank actor Tony Shaloub, who
portrays boxing kingpin Sam LaRocca.

Of course, the film would not be
complete without a cameo appear
ance by Jackie, so pay close attention
to the Detroit Times reporter in the
press conference scene.
Kallen's sons and daughters-in-law,
Brad and Molly Kallen of Keego
Harbor and Bryan and Stephenie
Kallen of Commerce Township, with
their sons Chase, 6, and Bryce, 2,
also appear in various crowd scenes,
along with Kallen's brother Skip
Kaplan of Farmington Hills and his
daughter, Airnie Kaplan of
Birmingham.
This is a nice payback for all the
hard work she's put in and all the
doors she's opened for women," said
Bryan Kallen. The movie's kind of
the icing on the cake." ❑

Kallen promptly loaned the star her
scrapbooks and took her to a variety
of fights, including a match of
novices in a Simi Valley, Calif, park-
ing lot.
Screenwriter Cheryl Edwards
trekked with Kallen to an inner-city
gym in Los Angeles, where they were
the only two women in the room.
"But no one seemed to notice,"
Edwards said in an interview. "Jackie
was completely in her element."
While turning more heads as she
left the Four Seasons, Kallen, who
still manages several boxers and is
involved with women's health chari-
ties, acknowledged she is no longer a
novelty as a woman in boxing.
But she still relies on her chutz-
pah. "When life offers hard knocks,
you have to stay one step ahead,"
she said. ❑

Against the Ropes, rated PG-13,
opens Friday, Feb. 20, in area
theaters.