The opening weekend of Resurrecting the Champ ends a 10-year-plus odyssey for writer J.R. Moehringer. The movie is based ("loosely based," he notes) on a story he wrote at the Los Angeles Times. The former Rocky reporter, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author (The Tender Bar) talked recently about the making of the film, moving to Germany and how Star Jones figures into all this.

This took a long time to reach the screen. Are you relieved?

Moehringer: More like amazed. Maybe I'd feel relief if I'd ever for one second entertained the slightest notion that there would be a movie. But I never did. I'm a pessimist by nature; the power of negative thinking and all that. After I sold the story to Hollywood, more than 10 years ago, I put it out of my mind. So this week has been more a nice surprise than anything else.

This film has seen a variety of treatments. Have there been good ones that didn't get made?

Moehringer: I don't recall reading any early version of the script and thinking, "This is it." In fact, with every version I read, I saw the story moving farther away from my original, so there was always a sense of disconnection, which actually can be healthy for a writer doing anything in Hollywood. I do seem to recall (though this may have been a bad dream or a hallucination) some long-ago draft that had Champ and "the reporter" riding a Ferris wheel together. Holding hands. Thankfully, this scene isn't in the final cut - at least not the version I saw.

You saw some filming in Canada and Denver. Often writers are shown little or no respect on the set. How were you treated?

Moehringer: With great respect, and friendship. It was quite gratifying. At every step in the process, over the last 10 years, I was treated wonderfully, collegially, inclusively, by everyone involved with this film, especially the director, Rod Lurie. Contrary to everything I'd ever heard about writers and Hollywood, the studio thanked me for my story, kept me informed along the way, consulted me occasionally about boxing or newspapers. And when it came time to shoot, they didn't tolerate me on the set - they invited me. Of course, while there, I knew to keep my opinions to myself. It was no longer my story. It was someone else's story, inspired by mine. "Loosely based," as they say - but real, real loose. Like Star Jones' old dresses.

Speaking of "loosely based," there's a major plot twist that didn't actually happen. What's it like to see such a major change introduced?

Moehringer: Scary. The plot twist is a thing that didn't happen to me, thank God. So it was odd and terrifying to watch something painful, which could have taken place in real life, but didn't, played out on the big screen. Talk about your nightmares writ large. Freud would have had a field day with it.

What's the status of The Tender Bar, your memoir, being made into a movie?

Moehringer: (Producer) Scott Rudin owns the rights, and I haven't heard a word about the progress.

You recently took a voluntary buyout from The Los Angeles Times. Do you have a new project or just moving to Germany, since The Tender Bar is a best-seller there?

Moehringer: I can't move to Germany because the Mets and Jets aren't on TV there, and everyone pronounces my last name correctly, which is jarring to my ear. I might write another book, do some magazine journalism, try my hand at screenwriting - I'm not sure. The buyout came along and there was no choice but to take it. Now comes the hard part: Figuring out what next.