Based on the real life story of Kevin Lewis, the film follows his childhood of abuse, his descent into a life of crime and how he put his life together again afterwards.Rupert Friend appears as the adult Kevin Lewis. In order to learn how to box, he was sent to train with former WBO World middleweight and super middleweight champion Steve Collins.[3][4]Natascha McElhone was cast as Gloria, Kevin Lewis' mother. The film's director explained that the make-up team had to make her less attractive for the role; "Yes we put a lot of make-up on her to ugly her up a bit for the role, but it's not 'Planet of the Apes' type make-up, she still had to act underneath all that stuff and she was amazing and really breathed life into the character."[5] Due to the accuracy of the make-up, Kevin Lewis had difficulty being on set because she looked so much like the real-life Gloria; "It was such a shock and I walked off the set when I heard her as Gloria shouting.