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Wikipedia
The Wrestler is a 2008 drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky, written by Robert D. Siegel, and starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and Ernest Miller. Production began in January 2008 and Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired rights to distribute the film in the U.S.;[4][5] it was released in a limited capacity on December 17, 2008 and was released nationwide on January 23, 2009. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 21, 2009 in the United States. It was released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2009.[6]
Rourke plays an aging wrestler who continues to wrestle matches in an attempt to cling on to his 1980s heyday despite his failing health, while also trying to mend his relationship with his estranged daughter and find romance with a stripper.
The film received wide critical acclaim and won the Golden Lion Award in the 2008 Venice Film Festival in August, where it premiered. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote it as one of the year's best films, while Rotten Tomatoes reported that 98% of critics gave the film positive reviews. For his role, Mickey Rourke went on to receive a BAFTA award, a Golden Globe award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Tomei also received anAcademy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Plot
Robin Ramzinski (Mickey Rourke), stage named Randy "The Ram" Robinson, is a professional wrestler and was a celebrity in the 1980s. Twenty years later, he is now past his prime, works in a supermarket and wrestles on weekends for independent promotions in the Elizabeth, New Jersey area. He struggles to pay the rent for his trailer, and his supermarket boss, Wayne (Todd Barry), condescends to him. He also regularly visits a strip club and befriends a stripper, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). Though still beautiful, she, like Randy, is getting old for her job. After winning a local match, Randy agrees to a proposed 20th anniversary rematch in Wilmingtonwith his most notable opponent, "The Ayatollah" (Ernest Miller).
Randy intensifies his training, including steroid injections. At his next show, he wrestles in ahardcore match. His opponent, Necro Butcher, attacks him with a staple gun. Bloodied, Randy is treated for his wounds backstage, but suffers a heart attack. After he receives coronary artery bypass surgery his doctor tells him that his heart cannot take the stress of wrestling. He cancels his upcoming matches and takes an extra deli counter job at the supermarket. At Cassidy's suggestion, Randy visits his estranged daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), whom he abandoned when she was a child. Now an adult, she reviles him for not being a supportive father and rejects him. When Cassidy meets with Randy to buy gifts for Stephanie, she reveals she has a son too, and Randy makes romantic advances on her which she rejects on the grounds of her job. Randy gives the gifts to his daughter and apologizes. The two bond over a visit to a beachfront boardwalk, and they agree to meet for dinner on the coming Saturday.
Randy goes to Cassidy's strip club to thank her but she once more rejects his romantic feelings, which results in an angry exchange. Upset, Randy spectates a wrestling match and receives friendly attention from fellow wrestlers. Randy gets drunk with them at a bar, snorts cocaine, and has sex with a woman. He sleeps the entire next day and misses his dinner with Stephanie. He goes to her house at night to apologize, but she cries and tells him to break it off permanently. At the supermarket deli counter, a patron recognizes him as The Ram. Randy gets agitated and cuts his hand, then creates chaos in the store and quits. Inspired by the patron and with nothing left, he decides to return to wrestling. He reschedules the rematch with The Ayatollah and reconciles with Cassidy, who warns him of his heart condition. However, he goes on stage, explaining to her and the crowd in an emotional statement that regardless of the real world, he truly belongs in the ring where he is loved and admired by his fans.
During the match, Randy begins to feel chest pain and becomes unsteady, but continues nonetheless. The Ayatollah pressures Randy to pin him down and finish it, but Randy climbs the top rope. He feels he must deliver his signature finishing move one more time, a diving head buttcalled "The Ram Jam." In tears, he salutes the crowd and leaps.
[edit]Cast
- Mickey Rourke as Robin Ramzinski/Randy "The Ram" Robinson
- Marisa Tomei as Pam / Cassidy
- Evan Rachel Wood as Stephanie
- Todd Barry as Wayne
- Mark Margolis as Lenny
- Judah Friedlander as Scott Brumberg
- Ernest Miller as Bob / "The Ayatollah"
- Ron Killings as Ron "The Truth" Killings
Also appearing in the film are actual professional wrestlers:
- Rob Eckos (name only)
- Kevin Matthews
- Johnny Valiant
- Ref Hanson
- Tommy Rotten
- Pete Nixon
- Brolly
- Danny Inferno
- Necro Butcher
- Mike "Rage" Miller
- Paul E. Normous
- Nick Berk
- DJ Hyde
- Havoc
- Johnny Mangus
- Billy Dream
- The Blue Meanie
- Eric Cobian
- Sabian
- Nate Hatred
- Sugga
- L.A. Smooth
- Whacks
- Devon Moore
- The Funky Samoans
- Jay Lethal
- Jim Powers
- Kid USA (as Randy's stunt double)
- Claudio Castagnoli
- Bobby Dempsey
- Mike Mongoose
- Bobby Cruise
- Romeo Roselli
- John Zandig
- Ron "The Truth" Killings
- Chuck Taylor
- Nigel McGuinness.[7]
[edit]Production
The Wrestler was written by Robert D. Siegel, a former writer for The Onion and entered development at director Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures. Actor Nicolas Cage entered negotiations in October 2007 to star as Randy.[8] The following month Cage left the project, and Mickey Rourke replaced him in the lead role. According to Aronofsky, Cage pulled out of the movie because Aronofsky wanted Rourke as the lead character. Aronofsky stated that Cage 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."[9]
The roughly 40-day shoot began in January 2008,[10] with filming taking place throughout New Jersey in Elizabeth, Hasbrouck Heights, Garfield, Asbury Park, Linden, Rahway, Roselle Park, Dover, a supermarket in Bayonne where Rourke served and improvised with real customers,[11]and in New York.[12] Scenes were also shot at The Arena in Philadelphia.[13]
Afa Anoa'i, a former professional wrestler, was hired to train Rourke for his role. Anoa'i brought his two main trainers, Jon Trosky and Tom Farra, to work with Rourke for eight weeks. Both trainers also have parts in the movie.[14]
One scene features a fictional Nintendo Entertainment System video game called Wrestle Jam '88. It starred the characters of Robinson and The Ayatollah. Aronofsky requested a fully functioning game for the actors to play with, with programmer Randall Furino and the film's title designer Kristyn Hume creating a playable demo with a working interface and AI routines that also featured 1980s era-appropriate graphics and music.[15]
To add more realism, the locker room scenes were improvised for Rourke and others to look as if they were actually socializing. Some of the deli scenes were improvised because Aronofsky was actually filming Rourke working there.
[edit]Music
Clint Mansell, the composer for Aronofsky's previous films, π, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain, reprised his role as composer for The Wrestler. Slash played the guitars on the score. A new Bruce Springsteen song, also titled "The Wrestler", plays over the film's closing credits.[16]Springsteen wrote the song while on tour in Europe after receiving a letter and a copy of the script from Rourke.
The Guns N' Roses song "Sweet Child o' Mine" is played during Randy's ring entrance at the end of the film. In his Golden Globe acceptance speech, Rourke mentioned that Axl Rose donated the song for free due to the budget, and the film's closing credits thank Rose for this.[17] Rourke had used the same song as his intro music during his stint as a boxer in the mid-90s. Randy even mocks one of Axl Rose's biggest rivals in the popular music scene of the early 1990s: Kurt Cobain.
Also featured in the film are two Ratt songs ("Round and Round" and "I'm Insane"), the Quiet Riotsong "Metal Health" (which is Randy's entrance song except for the last match), the FireHousesong "Don't Walk Away", the Slaughter song "Dangerous", the Scorpions song "Animal Magnetism", "Balls to the Wall" by Accept, "Soundtrack to a War" by Rhino Bucket and the Cinderella song "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)." The two Ratt tunes are actually recordings by Rat Attack, a project featuring Ratt lead singer Stephen Pearcy and guitaristsGeorge Lynch (Dokken) and Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns). The Madonna song "Jump" is played in the bar scene. The Birdman and Lil Waynesong "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" can be heard in the strip club. Also in the movie is a song called "Let Your Freak Out" by independent Toronto singer/songwriter Deesha which can be heard during the strip club scene where Marisa Tomei's character is having an emotional conversation with Mickey Rourke's character.
In the Toronto International Film Festival interview conducted by James Rocchi, Aronofsky credited the 1957 Charles Mingus song "The Clown," an instrumental piece with a poem read over the music about a clown who accidentally discovers the bloodlust of the crowds and eventually kills himself in performance, as a major source of inspiration for the movie. Aronofsky also said the brief reprise of Senator and Presidential-candidate John McCain's "Bomb bomb Iran" to the tune of The Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" in the movie evolved as improvisation on the set. The Ayatollah wrestling character's persona had developed more than 20 years before but, in part through this musical moment and its connection with the character, came to still feel appropriate to Aronofsky in 2008.[18]
[edit]Promotion
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) helped promote the film through an on-screen angle (a fictional storyline used in wrestling). This involved the heel Chris Jericho criticizing legendary retired wrestlers such as Ric Flair, whom he felt were embarrassing themselves, as well as Mickey Rourke for his portrayal in The Wrestler. At the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Rourke announced he would be competing at WrestleMania XXV, specifically targeting Jericho.[19] The announcement led to a confrontation between the two on Larry King Live, which showed signs of second thoughts from Rourke.[20] On January 28, it was announced through Rourke's spokesperson that the actor would not compete at the event,[21] and he was soon after announced instead as a guest.[22]
Rourke was also invited to the WWE Hall of Fame 2009 induction ceremony the night before WrestleMania. The angle culminated the following night where Jericho faced Ricky Steamboat,Roddy Piper, and Jimmy Snuka in a handicap match. After his victory, Jericho dismantled Ric Flair and challenged Rourke, who finally entered the ring and punched him out. Flair then congratulated Rourke.
[edit]Reception
The Wrestler has received overwhelmingly strong critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 98% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based upon a sample of 207, and gave it a golden tomato for best drama of 2008.[23] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 81, based on 36 reviews, signifying "universal acclaim".[24] Alonso Duralde, of MSNBC, said, "Rourke's work transcends mere stunt-casting; his performance is a howl of pain that seems to come from a very real place."[25]
Todd McCarthy, of Variety, said, "Rourke creates a galvanizing, humorous, deeply moving portrait that instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances."[26] Ben Mankiewicz, from At the Movies, said, "To put it simply, this is the best film I've seen this year."[27] Le Monde praised the film for melding European film style with an American plot, and stated that “Mickey Rourke’s performance in ‘The Wrestler’ is a continuous celebration of the burdens and splendors of the profession of performance.”[28] (One other French movie critic, Philippe Azoury, praised its portrayal of "the American heartland" as what he viewed as a bleak wasteland.[29]) Although The Wrestler was not technically in Roger Ebert's "Best Films" list, he includes a note at the bottom of his review: "'The Wrestler' is one of the year's best films. It wasn't on my 'best films' list for complicated and boring reasons."[30]
[edit]Professional wrestling industry reaction
Prominent wrestling industry figures have commented on the movie. Aronofsky remarked during anNPR interview on WWE chairman Vince McMahon's feelings on The Wrestler:
| “ | Vince McMahon saw the film and he called both me and Mickey (Rourke) and he was really, really touched by it. It happened a week ago. We were very nervous wondering what he would think, but he really, really felt the film was special. Having his support meant a lot to us, especially Mickey.[31] | ” |
WWE Hall of Famer Bret "Hit Man" Hart, who was a multi-time world champion in both WWE andWCW, enjoyed The Wrestler and applauded Rourke's "clairvoyant" performance, but called the film a "dark misinterpretation" of the business. He asserted: "Randy “The Ram” Robinson was a main-eventer who sold out Madison Square Garden. So was I... Although the film speaks superbly to the speed bumps all pro wrestlers navigate, I’m happy to report most of us don’t swerve off the road quite so severely."[32] WWE play-by-play commentator Jim Ross called it a "really strong, dramatic film that depicts how people who are obsessed with their own lives and their careers can self-destruct".[33]
Former WWE and TNA world heavyweight champion Mick Foley enjoyed the film, saying: "Within five [minutes], I had completely forgotten I was looking at Mickey Rourke. That guy on the screen simply was Randy "the Ram" Robinson."[34] WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was said to have been highly emotional after watching a screening of the movie. Aronofsky said of Piper: "He loved it. He broke down and cried in Mickey's arms, so he was psyched that this story was finally told."[35] Insights on the film from Roddy Piper and other former pro wrestlers can be seen inFox Searchlight Pictures's "Wrestler Round Table", which was included in the Blu-ray release from the film.[36]
[edit]"The Ayatollah" controversy
The Wrestler has been condemned as an "anti-Iranian" film in many Iran newspapers and websites, in response to a scene in which Mickey Rourke violently breaks a pole bearing anIranian flag in half across his knee. Borna News, a state-run Iranian newspaper, also criticized theheel (bad-guy) wrestler character "The Ayatollah", who is portrayed as a villain wearing Arabic clothings Keffiyeh and Bisht creating a deliberate amalgam of Iranians and Arabs among the audience. On the wrestling ring he wears a skimpy leotard in the pattern of an Iranian flag with thealef character, representing the first letter of the word Ayatollah.
Some Iranian newspapers avoided mentioning the character, presumably to avoid offending Iran clerical rulers.[37] In March 2009, Javad Shamaqdari, cultural adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, demanded an apology from a delegation of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences actors and producers visiting Iran for what he characterized as negative and unfair portrayals of the Islamic republic in The Wrestler and other Hollywood films.[38] The Iranian gimmick is a reference to the now legendary rivalry between Hulk Hogan and The Iron Sheik during the mid-1980s.
[edit]Top ten lists
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.[39]
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[edit]Accolades
[edit]See also
- Terry Funk, hardcore pro wrestler whose real life shares major traits with the character of "Randy Robinson"
- Beyond the Mat, a 1999 doumentary featuring Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and Jake Roberts. They deal with and talk about experience with drug addiction, marital infidelity, estranged children, skid-row hardcore matches, blading, "career-ending" injuries, several retirement bouts, etc.
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