Angela Shelton shares what we have to look forward to in the new Heart, Baby! Podcast: the true story behind the film The Hammer.
George “The Hammer” Martin became an unbeatable prison boxer with songwriter Doc in his corner and born-again Christian Transgender woman, Crystal, as his cellmate.
When George was offered freedom to fight in the 1984 Olympics he shocked everyone by choosing prison over freedom, sending Doc on a journey to discover the true meaning of loyalty, love and heart, baby!
Writer/director Angela Shelton and prison reform advocate, Andy “Doc” Dixon, share how they met at the 140 Conference in NYC in 2010 and now 10 years later their movie about Doc’s life in prison with his best friend, boxer George “The Hammer” Martin, is coming out May 5th.
*SPOILER ALERT* They share the FULL STORY about how George turned down an offer for freedom to fight in the 1984 Olympics to protect the woman he loved - Crystal.
Doc openly shares how he did not like Crystal when he met her and could not wrap his Catholic country boy mind around the fact that she was a born-again Christian AND transgender.
As Crystal would say, we can “Grow where we are planted.”
Find out what ruined the heavyweight champion John Tate’s career and how he became a prisoner in the same prison where George knocked him out. Hear how Doc visited Crystal and James Earl Ray when they were both in the Special Needs Prison and how Crystal had a profound effect on Doc and changed his view of her and others.
We did a nationwide search with casting director John Jackson for a transgender actor to play Crystal. After coming up short and having to remain faithful to the true story, director Angela Shelton insisted Shawn-Caulin Young play her.
Shawn-Caulin wrote a powerful essay about how playing her transformed life forever.
Read his essay HERE.
AVAILABLE NOW on our SOUNDTRACK ->
Writer/director Angela Shelton interviews Andy Doc Dixon about his past and how he got into reform school where he met his best friend George.
Writer/director Angela Shelton interviews Andy Doc Dixon about his past and how he got into reform school where he met his best friend George. We find out what sent him to the hole in prison where he we was when George turned down the Olympics and how the man he fought lived.
*SPOILER ALERT*
There is a HUGE SURPRISE at the end that leads to Episode 3.
ORIGINAL SONGS by Andy Doc Dixon, sung by him with one teaser sung by Jackson Rathbone.
MUSIC composed by Jay Weigel.
Rick Shapiro (you can hear him in the background)
SPOILER ALERT* Some scenes from the movie THE HAMMER and conversations give away some gold! For those who have not seen the movie yet, you might want to save these episodes. For our fans who have seen it, you will LOVE these.
*SPOILER ALERT* Scenes and conversations give away some gold! For those who have not seen the movie yet, you might want to save these episodes. For our fans who have seen it, you will LOVE these.
Writer/director Angela Shelton interviews Andy Doc Dixon AND the real George Lee Martin about the divine elements of this film, their lives in and out of prison and the one scene in the film The Hammer that they both have the hardest time watching.
We have an idea to get GEORGE online to teach us boxing while we’re in quarantine, even if just for a workout. Get ready, we had this idea so that means it’s gonna happen.
We also share what we recently learned was the reason we were not accepted into any of the big festivals - it’s a shocker that we never would have seen coming!
ORIGINAL SONGS written by Andy Doc Dixon and Angela Shelton, sung by Andy with an NEVER-BEFORE-HEARD version of our title song Heart, Baby!
SCORE composed by Jay Weigel.
SPOILER ALERT* George is alive and talking! In Episode 4 George shares all kinds of stories with writer/director Angela Shelton including how the prison system messed up his paperwork and had him in as a blind white dude. (Now that's some real fake news!)
*SPOILER ALERT* George is alive and talking!
In Episode 4 George shares all kinds of stories with writer/director Angela Shelton including how the prison system messed up his paperwork and had him in as a blind white dude. (Now that’s some real fake news!)
George shares fantastic BOXING stories and how he sent a letter to John Tate’s manager Ace Miller to tell him to send his best in there.
George was arrested right after he turned 18 for burglary and got a 40 year sentence for robbery. Inside he became a boxer and is to this day undefeated.
He humbly admits that he never saw the goodness in himself that others did, even after he knocked out everyone.
He shares about his relationship with his transgender cellmate Crystal.
“I was the only one on the compound holding hands. And then other dudes started doing the same thing. The rec would say, ‘Everybody want to be George Martin.’”
George shares how he stop judging after being inspired by Crystal. “She inspired me about a lot of things. She was dead on that Bible, strictly from the Bible. She said, ‘I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body.’” George admits that’s what made him quit judging others.
Thank you to Project Return that helped George when he got out.
https://www.projectreturninc.org/
Our original song HEART, BABY! shared throughout was written by Andy Doc Dixon and Angela Shelton and performed by Jackson Rathbone.
SCORE composed by Jay Weigel.
George could never get a loan to start one because of his record. He was arrested right after he turned 18 for burglary and got a 40 year sentence.
This GoFundMe page was created by the producers of the movie THE HAMMER aka Heart, Baby! to help George raise the funds to achieve his dreams.
Due to #covid19 we are helping George set up ONLINE BOXING GLASSES!
You can pay for classes with this link.
Listen to George talk to the writer/director of the film THE HAMMER on our Heart, Baby! Podcast here: https://thehammertruestory.com/podcast
All donations collected through GoFundMe go directly to George's personal account. GoFundMe charges transaction fees, which will be automatically deducted by them when donations are made. There will be no other fees taken from your donation after that. The producers of the film cover the website fees.
In Episode 5 Andy "Doc" Dixon and George "The Hammer" Martin talk about prison reform with writer/director Angela Shelton. We hope you find the discussions provoking, from private prison corporations and their roots in slavery to wounded people needing a confessional. We know there is a problem.
In Episode 5 Andy “Doc” Dixon and George “The Hammer” Martin talk about prison reform with writer/director Angela Shelton.
We hope you find the discussions provoking, from private prison corporations and their roots in slavery to wounded people needing a confessional.
We know there is a problem with our prison system the way it currently is.
Now we all can begin to make the change.
We hope this episode opens your heart and mind.
Read the book Felonism, hating in plain sight written by Andy and his wife Linda at www.felonism.com
They also bring up Angela’s work with healing from trauma and the Sword of Trauma concept. survivormanual.com/healing-course.
She hosts a podcast with the co-producer of The Hammer called 101 Ways to Heal That Sh*t survivormanual.com/podcast
The song Prison Reform written and performed by Andy Dixon.
ALL songs and score available now on our soundtrack!
WARNING: explicit description of prison violence. "LOVE is a Round Room," to quote the end song of the film THE HAMMER aka Heart, Baby! was written by director Angela Shelton and prison reform advocate Andy Dixon. In this special episode the real Doc and George share with director Angela Shelton their thoughts on the cast and crew of THE HAMMER aka Heart, Baby!
WARNING: explicit description of prison violence.
“LOVE is a Round Room,” to quote the end song of the film THE HAMMER aka Heart, Baby! was written by director Angela Shelton and prison reform advocate Andy Dixon.
In this special episode the real Doc and George share with director Angela Shelton their thoughts on the cast and crew of THE HAMMER aka Heart, Baby! as well as their favorite scenes and characters.
Starting the conversation are clips from Dennis Ferrier’s Special FERRIER FILES: Why the greatest boxer you've never heard of chose jail over freedom on Fox17 Nashville (shared with permission).
Find out more about the true stories behind beloved real-life characters Sam (Bryce Romero), Randy (Keir O’Donnell), Gypsy (Robert Mello), Dixie (Big Freedia) and Preacher Robin (Darrell Foster) and director of photography Leonidas Jaramillo.
George Lee Martin has long dreamed of building a boxing gym to help kids like him stay off the streets.
We created GeorgeLeeMartin.com to help him raise the funds to achieve his dream while also benefiting his local community.
All donations go directly to George will be used to set up his boxing gym.
The producers of Heart, Baby! cover the admin and site fees.
We all knew that George would have won the gold if he had fought in the 1984 Olympics. So at our first film festival premiere we had a super surprise for him and his family - we presented him with a replica of the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal and one of the original tokens that all attendees got! It was so magical. The whole audience stood up in tears and sang the National Anthem. I show the video when you sign up for my personal list below, so you get to see the super behind the scenes and be a part of our Heart, Baby! family.
The 1984 Gold Medal Presentation is also on THE HAMMER DVD, out May 5th, 2020
