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*** Official THE WRESTLER Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Andy Sheets

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I'm sure Roberts was a major inspiration for the character, especially with the strained relationship with the daughter, although Randy, being a movie character, is a bit more idealized and less seedy than Roberts.
 

Kirk Tsai

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From what I have read, Cage bowed out after learning that Aronofsky had his heart set for Rourke to play the role. Aronofsky has had only good things to say about Cage, saying that Cage was very gracious, supportive of Rourke, and so on.
 

Jari K

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Yes, this is true.

Darren Aronofsky on Robocop, Nicolas Cage, Vince McMahon, Dave Chappelle and THAT Scene in Requiem | /Film

"The Budget for The Wrestler was about $7 million, but the budget was a whopping $19 million when Nicolas Cage was attached to star.

We’ve talked a little bit about this in our Toronto interview with Aronofsky, but he does say that “two days after we won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival [Nicolas Cage] sent a text saying that ‘The Ram was always Mickey, congratulations.’ He is real class.” … “I thought Nic could have done it, but I had worked so long working with Mickey that it was just the Ram in my head was Mickey.”"

Great Aronofsky-interview here:
pt.1
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - Part 1 | /Film

"Peter Sciretta: But when the project was first announced, well obviously Nicholas Cage was attached, what happened?

Darren Aronofsky: There was a window where it was very very hard. Basically no one wanted to make it with Mickey Rourke. We couldn’t get money to do it. Just because of how independent films get sold now is on foreign value, and Mickey just doesn’t have enough for what we needed. So there was a brief flirtation with Nic Cage because Nic really liked the script. Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but… you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race. Then an executive producer named Jennifer Roth came on. She is great at doing independent films and she was like, “What if that’s the amount of money you got, let’s just figure out a way to do it.” So we just did it. So we did things which actually work with the style. Instead of getting a thousand extras we worked with these different wrestling promotions and actually put on live promotions and then stuck Mickey smack in the middle of it. It added to a whole new flavor to it and we got the authenticity that came with that as well."

pt.2
Interview: Darren Aronofksy - Part 2 | /Film
pt.3
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - Part 3 | /Film
pt.4
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - Part 4 | /Film
pt.5
Interview: Darren Aronofsky Part 5 | /Film
 

Carlos_E

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I just saw this movie about 3 days ago. Fantastic film. Tremendous performance by Mickey Rourke. Also the Academy should create a special award for Marisa Tomei for best body by a 44 year old.
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htf_images_smilies_smile.gif
What percentage of all 44 year old women out there have a body that looks like that??? Like Darth Vader once said, "Impressive, Most Impressive"
 

Edwin-S

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Finally was able to see this film a couple of days ago. The film is depressing as all hell, but it is also very well done. Rourke really nailed the character; although, I couldn't help but think that he would have been a natural for this. He has had his share of hard times in real life, so I would expect him to be able to draw on those experiences in order to pull off the character of "The Ram" so well.

This film really had a feel of authenticity about it. The film isn't about the minute few who make it big, and stay big, in wrestling. This film, to me, is really about the struggles of the day to day workers on small wrestling circuits, who are hoping to hit the big time. It just shows how the majority of them will probably end up: never getting beyond playing small time venues, while getting busted up doing it. In the case of "The Ram", the character did make it to the big time which makes the circumstances he finds himself in even harder to take.

I don't doubt that this movie would piss McMahon off because this film shows the kind of conditions the majority of 'wannabees' probably operate under as they try to make it to the big time. I've started reading "Hitman" by Bret Hart and he doesn't paint a rosy picture of either pro wrestling or Vince McMahon. I don't doubt that his book will at least reflect some of what was shown in this movie.
 

Andy Sheets

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I read an interview with Rourke in which he talked about how much of his own experiences he incorporated into the character. Apparently the finger-chopping thing was something Rourke did to himself, except in his case he went even farther and cut the entire tip of his finger off and had to immediately head to the doctor to have it reattached.
 

Todd H

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Man is this flick ever going wide? I'm getting sick of waiting for it to open somewhere near me.
 

mona_r

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Its nice that he got the nod but it would have been full vindication of he would have won.
 

The Drifter

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The Wrestler is a masterpiece. I've seen it several times over the years. What a gut-wrenchingly powerful & depressing film. This is a really tough movie to watch, though obviously the performances are stellar. It was also interesting that even if you're not into wrestling, it's not a requirement to enjoy the film; I have 0 interest in any type of wrestling & have always flipped past this whenever watching TV. However, I really enjoyed this film & felt it was incredible.

Having grown up in the '80's, I enjoyed the homages to that time period re: the metal/hard rock music, the clothing store Randy & Cassidy went to, their conversation re: '80's music vs. '90's music, etc...Randy was obviously still living in that time period, since most of his glory days were from that decade. I was especially amused when he and that kid were playing an ancient '80's-era "Nintendo" wrestling game with sub-par graphics, and the kid commented, "This game is so old!" & then started talking about the latest much more advanced Call of Duty video games that Randy was obviously clueless about
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Prior to watching the film, I was always under the strong impression that wrestling was 100% fake. However, this film was a real eye-opener since it was showing Randy intentionally cutting his forehead, the staple gun scene , the barbed wire, etc. Quite gruesome, especially since much of this was self-inflicted Obviously, this is based on things that really happen in this industry...

The scene when he intentionally cut his finger while working at the grocery store was quite horrible...obviously he was set off by the customer recognizing him as Randy "The Ram", something he was trying to put behind him at that point. The falling out with his daughter, the incident with the customer, the rejection by Cassidy, etc. all combined to make him do that final wrestling bout, even though he knew it may be his last one.

Re: the ending scene:

I was always under the impression that Randy died right as he performed that final "Ram Jam", since the scene cut to black suddenly (just as it had cut to black when he passed out the first time earlier in the film). He was told by the doctor to stop wrestling, he had spent a lifetime taking drugs to enhance his performance in the ring, etc. It's fairly obvious to me what happened, but maybe it was left ambiguous so the film wouldn't end on a downer.

I just saw this movie about 3 days ago. Fantastic film. Tremendous performance by Mickey Rourke. Also the Academy should create a special award for Marisa Tomei for best body by a 44 year old. :) :) What percentage of all 44 year old women out there have a body that looks like that???

Agreed. I most recently saw Tomei in SM: Homecoming, and she still looked great.
 
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