Edgar Ramirez found the role of Panamanian boxing legend Roberto Duran a life-changing one.
Friday’s “Hands of Stone” chronicles the incredible saga of the welterweight champ, rated among the greatest boxers of all time, who, thanks to his trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro), defeated Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond) for the championship.
Nicknamed “hands of stone” for his powerful punches, Duran was born into poverty, never finished school and couldn’t read, yet ultimately became a national hero.
“The story of Roberto Duran is the story of everyone who has ever struggled to become someone and then suddenly is under the pressure of being somebody,” the multilingual Venezuelan actor (“Joy,” “Point Break”) said.
“For me, the key to understanding this guy was a physical transformation. There was no way to even attempt to build a character without becoming a boxer myself.
“You cannot ‘act’ it; you have to become it. So I moved to Panama, because there was no way for me to access Roberto’s state of mind, his soul, without understanding the degradation, the sacrifices and the struggle, the pressure a boxer has to go through.
“I actually trained in a very ‘underground’ gym that is located in the less privileged areas of Panama in order to get as close to the reality that Duran grew up in.
“The whole process,” Ramirez, 39, added, “was probably a year.”
Duran, 65, was there daily, “supervising everything I did.
“Roberto embodies the spirit of Panama. His saga as a boxer has a lot to do with a sense of emancipation (from American rule) for his people. And you cannot understand that in L.A. or New York or even Caracas.”
Ramirez follows this biopic with October’s film version of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling thriller “The Girl on the Train.”
His Dr. Kamal Abdic, a psychoanalyst, is among the many homicide suspects. How closely does the film follow the book?
“Actually I didn’t read the book, but I will soon. Because a movie cannot capture every single detail — a movie is like a photograph, a painting of the book — I didn’t want that to affect my performance. I wanted to feel free to play around with Dr. Abdic.”