The Wrestler
(2008)
R | 105 or 109-110 mins | Drama | 17 November 2008
Director:
Darren AronofskyWriter:
Robert SiegelProducers:
Darren Aronofsky, Scott FranklinCinematographer:
Maryse AlbertiEditor:
Andrew WeisblumProduction Designer:
Timothy GrimesProduction Company:
Protozoa PicturesDuring “Randy’s” final dive, the camera does not follow him to the mat, but remains focused on where he had been standing on the ropes. The crowd is heard cheering, then suddenly the screen goes black and silent. Several seconds later, the soundtrack music commences, followed by the end credits. The death of Randy is not explicitly shown, leaving the end of the film ambiguous and open to interpretation. Although many viewers felt the ending allowed for the possibility that Randy survived, producer-director Darren Aronofsky confirmed Randy’s death in an interview dated 9 Jan 2009 posted on Film.com.
The opening credits are shown over a montage of 1980s-style wrestling posters, magazine covers and newspaper articles that depict the fictional Randy’s early career through its peak. The sound of a crowd is heard chanting in time to the soundtrack music, under announcements made by sportscasters. The sequence ends as an announcer calls the final “spots” in the 1989 Randy “The Ram” vs. The Ayatollah match held at Madison Square Garden that is later referenced in the story. According to a 25 Dec 2008 LAT article, the visual montage was designed by Kristyn Hume, who spent a year creating in Photoshop the fictional publicity material for the two-minute sequence, facetiously using the names of her friends and family to create fictitious opponents for Randy. After the montage sequence, the first scene begins with a written statement appearing over the action that reads, "Twenty years later." Later in the film, several highlights from the “Ram vs. Necro Butcher” match appear as brief flashbacks that are interspliced with events occurring fifteen minutes after the bout, as the crew cleans up and ...
During “Randy’s” final dive, the camera does not follow him to the mat, but remains focused on where he had been standing on the ropes. The crowd is heard cheering, then suddenly the screen goes black and silent. Several seconds later, the soundtrack music commences, followed by the end credits. The death of Randy is not explicitly shown, leaving the end of the film ambiguous and open to interpretation. Although many viewers felt the ending allowed for the possibility that Randy survived, producer-director Darren Aronofsky confirmed Randy’s death in an interview dated 9 Jan 2009 posted on Film.com.
The opening credits are shown over a montage of 1980s-style wrestling posters, magazine covers and newspaper articles that depict the fictional Randy’s early career through its peak. The sound of a crowd is heard chanting in time to the soundtrack music, under announcements made by sportscasters. The sequence ends as an announcer calls the final “spots” in the 1989 Randy “The Ram” vs. The Ayatollah match held at Madison Square Garden that is later referenced in the story. According to a 25 Dec 2008 LAT article, the visual montage was designed by Kristyn Hume, who spent a year creating in Photoshop the fictional publicity material for the two-minute sequence, facetiously using the names of her friends and family to create fictitious opponents for Randy. After the montage sequence, the first scene begins with a written statement appearing over the action that reads, "Twenty years later." Later in the film, several highlights from the “Ram vs. Necro Butcher” match appear as brief flashbacks that are interspliced with events occurring fifteen minutes after the bout, as the crew cleans up and the wrestlers receive medical attention. At one point in the film, the character “Cassidy” mentions the 2004 Icon production, The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson. End credits include a list of individuals and companies the producers wished to thank; a list of individuals from the wrestling community “who helped along the way”; and “a very special thanks” to the musician Axl Rose, lead vocalist of the rock band, Guns N’ Roses, from the cast and crew.
According to an 8 Dec 2008 HR article, in the 1990s, around the time Aronofsky graduated from film school, the idea occurred to him that many successful and significant movies had been made about boxing, but few on the subject of wrestling. In a 22 Dec 2008 Newsweek article, Aronofsky mentioned that he had a brief “romance” with the sport as a child and realized that many of the legendary wrestlers he had admired who had fought at Madison Square Garden were now working for $200-a-night in small venues. Aronofsky’s idea for a wrestling film lingered undeveloped on his computer until 2002, when he read a screenplay by Robert Siegel that convinced him that he had found the correct screenwriter for the project. In a 30 Nov 2008 NYT article, Aronofsky praised Siegel, who is a former editor of the satirical newspaper The Onion, for having the right “combination of humor and drama” and stated that The Onion presented a similar kind of writing that was needed for the The Wrestler, to depict “potentially ridiculous characters…with dignity.” Siegel agreed that, like The Onion, The Wrestler is “strange, it’s dark, it’s deadpan” but that the film is not a “mockery” of the wrestlers it portrays. According to added content material on the 2009 DVD release of the film, Aronofsky realized early in the project that the film could not be set in the mainstream wrestling world, because of costly licensing issues, so set the story in the world of the independent wrestling shows.
A 24–30 Sep 2008 Village Voice article reported that Siegel developed the script having in mind the Actors’ Studio-trained Mickey Rourke. Like the character Randy, Rourke had a successful career that peaked in the late 1980s, after earning fame and acclaim for his performances in Diner (1982), Rumble Fish (1983), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) and the film that drew Aronofsky’s admiration for his work, Angel Heart (1987). However, Rourke, who developed a reputation for being difficult, for walking off a set and for self-destructive behavior, was eventually shunned by producers. According to the Village Voice article, Rourke returned to his hometown of Miami in 1991 and for three years followed a childhood dream of becoming a professional boxer. Although several sources state that Rourke was away from Hollywood for fifteen years, he did make films during the 1990s, but many, as he admitted in the Village Voice article, were of poor quality and done only for much-needed money. The Village Voice article stated that, by the late 1990s, Rourke was living in a studio apartment on $500 a month.
According to various Nov 2008 DV and Dec 2008 HR articles, Rourke was beginning to turn his career around and had spent several years in therapy when, in about 2005, Aronofsky approached him. The director stated that he realized that Rourke wanted a second chance. Although he had appeared in some significant roles in recent films, such as Buffalo ‘66 (1998), Man on Fire (2004) and Sin City (2005), The Wrestler required that Rourke appear in almost every scene. According to the 24–30 Sep 2008 Village Voice article, Rourke recalled that when he first met with Aronofsky, the director spent the first five minutes telling him how he had ruined fifteen years of his career by behaving badly, to which Rourke said he agreed. Aronofsky then laid out rules of behavior for Rourke, such as following his orders without showing disrespect and not attending clubs late at night during the shooting. According to Rourke, Aronofksy promised that if he followed his orders, he would get an Oscar nomination. In a 22 Dec 2008 Newsweek article, Aronofsky disavowed the statement as being more apocryphal, stating that what he actually said was that if Rourke would “do the work” he would be “recognized.”
According to the Dec 2008 Newsweek article, Aronofsky spent approximately a year and a half trying to convince financiers to back the project with Rourke as lead, but was turned down because of Rourke’s reputation and the belief that he could not be “sympathetic.” A 16 Dec DV article reported that producer Scott Franklin pitched the movie to nearly every film company in the United States and found that the studio divisions did not feel comfortable with a movie about wrestling. When Aronofsky eventually felt compelled to replace Rourke with Nicolas Cage in order to make the movie, he was immediately given a $12-14 million budget, according to an 8 Dec 2008 HR article. A 22 Oct 2007 DV announced that the film starring Cage was being financed by Frenchman Jean-Luc De Fanti and Jeff Sagansky’s Winchester Capital Partners and that Summit International would handle international rights. In the 24–30 Sep 2008 Village Voice article, Rourke admitted that he was relieved, because the story paralleled his own life so closely that he was aware he could have to revisit difficult memories. However, in a 19 Nov 2008 DV interview, Rourke said that he also sensed that he would get the role back and spent a few months training, resulting in his acquiring the physique of a wrestler.
Although Aronofsky now had significant funding and a star with box office appeal, according to the 8 Dec 2008 HR article, he still believed that Rourke was important to the film he wanted to make. In an 8 Dec 2008 HR article, Aronofsky stated that Cage, a friend of Rourke, understood Aronofsky’s feelings and bowed out of the role. According to Oct 2008 and Dec 2008 DV articles and an 8 Dec 2008 HR article, when the French sales company, Wild Bunch, was willing to front $6 million dollars to the film with Rourke in the lead, Aronofsky decided to scale down costly scenes, and Franklin slashed salaries, so that the film could be made independently on a $6 million dollar budget.
Although an HR production chart lists the first day of production as 4 Feb 2008, the DVD added commentary reported that principal photography began near the end of Jan 2008 and ran for eighty-five days until 18 Mar 2008. One way the team found to cut costs was to shoot major scenes in front of real audiences of live wrestling matches, although that left the crew little time to block and light the sets, and forced them to work without a storyboard. The audience in the match scenes were mostly real wrestling fans attending the shows. Most of the wrestlers were playing versions of themselves, for instance, “Tommy Rotten” was portrayed by wrestler Tommy Farra, and wrestler Mike Miller portrayed “Lex Lethal.” Ernest Miller, who portrays “The Ayatollah,” is known in the ring as The Cat and has acted in other films.
According to the DVD added content material, the troupe shot at matches on the weekends, and during the week shot other scenes. According to the Var and LAT reviews, portions of the film were filmed in New Jersey and Philadelphia, PA. Added content on the DVD release of the film named the following New Jersey locations: Hazlet, Bayonne, Elizabeth, Rahway, Asbury Park, Garfield, Hasbrouck Heights and, for the final match, Dover, NJ. The DVD material also reported that Jersey City, NJ was the site of the supermarket sequence. According to a 6 Jan 2009 Screen International article, Rourke, who had added thirty-five pounds of muscle during training, performed his own stunts. A 19 Nov 08 DV article reported that Aronofsky allowed Rourke to rewrite and improvise his own dialogue and have input into the wardrobe, makeup and tattoos used in creating his wrestling persona.
The Chicago Sun-Times review, among others, praised the film for its depiction of the “backstage detail” about the wrestling world. Many wrestlers performing in independent shows have no health insurance, benefits or retirement plans and, as shown in the film, must play to survive but must supplement their meager pay with other work. According to the DVD added commentary, Aronofsky and Siegel discovered that few of the wresters they met had stable family lives and two significant themes in the film, the estranged daughter and the strip club being used as a substitute for family and social activity, are frequent circumstances in a wrestler’s life. The film authentically recreates wrestling procedures, such as the players’ pre-game strategizing of the “spots” or moves they will perform in a game. Like Randy’s “Ram Jam”, wrestlers develop a signature move that they use to signal victory and the end of a game. Wrestling terms, such as “heel” and “face” to indicate “villain” and “hero,” respectively, are authentic jargon. The abuse of steroids and pain medication is prevalent and, as reported by a 19 Feb 2009 Wall Street Journal blog news item, an ironic event reflecting the authenticity of the film’s story occurred when Scott Siegel, who appears in the film selling drugs to Randy, was arrested in real life for selling steroids. Another real life event mirroring the story of The Wrestler that occurred after the film was made, was reported in a 19 Jan 2009 Guardian (London) article. The article told about the unexpected death at age thirty-three, presumably from heart failure, of Paul “E. Normous” Fuchs, a 302-pound wrestler who appears in a small role in The Wrestler.
A few points in the film were criticized as not being authentic. According to wrestler Mick Foley in an online article posted 18 Dec 2008 for www.slate.com, the sequence in which Randy slits his forehead to create blood would not occur in a small, sparsely attended crowd, and a wrestler of Randy’s magnitude, “no matter how faded,” would not go to the extreme of the staple gun sequence that was used to illustrate how far Randy had fallen.
As noted in a 20 Dec 2008 LAT article, the score composed by Clint Mansell, who was the former lead of the industrial-influenced English rock band, Pop Will Eat Itself, was supplemented with vintage metal rock and an original Bruce Springsteen track. The guitar music in the score was played by Slash of the group, Guns N’ Roses. Springsteen composed the title song, “The Wrestler,” which was heard during the end credits. The 19 Feb 2009 Rolling Stone news item stated that there had been concern among Bruce Springsteen fans that the song, “The Wrestler,” did not receive an Oscar nomination. The article explained the rating system used by members of the Academy’s music branch and quoted Richard Kraft, a music agent, as saying that a song presented as part of end credits tended to have a harder time competing with one heard under a music video.
The Wrestler had already won the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival when it became the focus of an all-night bidding war after the screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award, according to a 9 Sep 2008 LAT article. Leading contenders for the U.S. rights of the film were Sony and Lions Gate, but Fox ultimately acquired the rights for $4 to$ 5 million. The North American box office gross for the film was $2,822,431. In addition to being named one of AFI’s Movies of the Year, The Wrestler was nominated for two Academy Awards, Rourke for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Tomei for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film won Golden Globes for Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama (Rourke) and Best Original Song--Motion Picture (“The Wrestler”), and Tomei was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. The film won Independent Spirit Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Feature and Best Male Lead (Rourke).
Among many other national and international critical nods, the film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the WGA, for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Leading Role (Rourke) by the SAG, for Excellence in Production Design by the Art Directors Guild, and for Excellence in Costume Design for Film–Contemporary by the Costume Designers Guild.
Other films about professional wrestling include the 1931 Warner Bros. film, Sit Tight; directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Joe E. Brown and Winnie Lightner; Swing Your Lady, the 1937 Warner Bros film directed by Ray Enright and starring Humphrey Bogart; and Mister Universe, the 1951 Eagle Lion Classics film starring Jack Carson, Vince Edwards and Burt Lahr and directed by Joseph Lerner. Two films made in the 1970s are the 1978 Paramount production, The One and Only, starring Henry Winkler and directed by Carl Reiner, which was set in the 1950s, and the independent 1975 film, The Wrestler, starring Ed Asner and directed by Jim Westman. A 1999 documentary, Beyond the Mat, explored the world of contemporary professional wrestling. That film was written and directed by Barry W. Blaustein and produced by Blaustein, Ron Howard, Barry Bloom, Brian Grazer and Rosenberg.
Twenty years ago, Randy “The Ram” Robinson had been a giant in the professional wrestling world, performing in the country’s top arenas, and inspiring action figures and video games. Now Randy has difficulty paying the rent on a New Jersey trailer home. Between weekend matches held in low rent halls, he works on a supermarket loading dock. Fit with a hearing aid and with a slight limp, Randy’s body is weakened from the use of steroids, physical abuse and aging, but he still has the loyalty of wrestling fans. He also has the camaraderie of other professional wrestlers, whom he calls “brother” off the mat but feigns animosity in choreographed matches. At work, Randy endures his store manager Wayne’s rude remarks and, when his landlord locks him out for nonpayment of rent, Randy sleeps in his Dodge Ram, where admiring, young neighborhood boys awaken him the next morning. At his next match, Randy is paired with Tommy Rotten, a younger wrestler who will portray the villain in the bout. Before the game, as they plan their moves, called “spots," Randy encourages Tommy, telling him that it is only wrestling politics that determines who gets to be the hero in the matches. During their performance, Tommy knocks Randy flat on the mat, allowing Randy the chance surreptitiously to cut his own forehead with a tiny piece of a concealed razor. With blood dripping down his face, Randy rises triumphantly, eventually climbs onto the ropes then dives into Tommy, in a signature, final move he calls the “Ram Jam.” Afterward, Randy agrees to schedule a twentieth anniversary rematch with Bob, a former wrestler who was known in the 1980s ...
Twenty years ago, Randy “The Ram” Robinson had been a giant in the professional wrestling world, performing in the country’s top arenas, and inspiring action figures and video games. Now Randy has difficulty paying the rent on a New Jersey trailer home. Between weekend matches held in low rent halls, he works on a supermarket loading dock. Fit with a hearing aid and with a slight limp, Randy’s body is weakened from the use of steroids, physical abuse and aging, but he still has the loyalty of wrestling fans. He also has the camaraderie of other professional wrestlers, whom he calls “brother” off the mat but feigns animosity in choreographed matches. At work, Randy endures his store manager Wayne’s rude remarks and, when his landlord locks him out for nonpayment of rent, Randy sleeps in his Dodge Ram, where admiring, young neighborhood boys awaken him the next morning. At his next match, Randy is paired with Tommy Rotten, a younger wrestler who will portray the villain in the bout. Before the game, as they plan their moves, called “spots," Randy encourages Tommy, telling him that it is only wrestling politics that determines who gets to be the hero in the matches. During their performance, Tommy knocks Randy flat on the mat, allowing Randy the chance surreptitiously to cut his own forehead with a tiny piece of a concealed razor. With blood dripping down his face, Randy rises triumphantly, eventually climbs onto the ropes then dives into Tommy, in a signature, final move he calls the “Ram Jam.” Afterward, Randy agrees to schedule a twentieth anniversary rematch with Bob, a former wrestler who was known in the 1980s as The Ayatollah and who since has become a successful used car dealer in Arizona. Later, Randy relaxes at Cheeques, the strip club where his favorite dancer, Cassidy, is employed. Seeing a group of young men reject Cassidy, who is in her forties, for being too old, he comes to her defense, then berates them with vulgar language, causing a scene. Afterward, he pays Cassidy for a private dance and she notices the new cut on his forehead. When he shows her other wrestling scars, she recalls the film, The Passion of the Christ , in which “Jesus” is beaten and wounded, and jokes that Randy is a “sacrificial ram.” In preparation for the next match, Randy buys $995 worth of steroids and other drugs from a muscle-bound dealer. After giving himself a shot, Randy works out, visits a hairdresser and a tanning salon, and lastly a hardware store for props such as mouse traps and aluminum pans. His next wrestling adversary is Necro Butcher, who asks Randy before the game if he can attack him with a staple gun. In a barbed wire ring, Randy and his opponent use other items such as broken glass and a spray can of insecticide against each other. Backstage, they are treated by waiting medics, but in the locker room, Randy unexpectedly vomits and falls unconscious. At the hospital, he undergoes a life-saving heart bypass operation, but afterward his doctor warns him to give up wrestling. Randy cancels future wrestling dates, but then feels lonely. Even the young neighborhood boy who plays Randy’s old Nintendo game that was inspired by his 1989 Ram vs. Ayatollah match has lost interest and prefers a new game about soldiers in Iraq. To Cassidy, Randy confides that he does not want to be alone, but, ignoring his interest in her, she encourages him to seek out his long-estranged daughter, Stephanie, who is bitter over his years of neglecting her. Moved by his need to do something special for Stephanie, Cassidy, whose real name is Pam, helps Randy pick out a present for her. Cassidy also agrees to have a drink with Randy, then unintentionally admits she has a nine-year-old son and plans to move to an area with better schools. Although they playfully agree that 1980s music was the best, Cassidy leaves when Randy tries to get closer. Days pass, and Randy feels the loss of his ring persona, as he is increasingly identified by his real name, Robin Ranzinski. When he asks for more work at the store, he is satisfied to man the deli counter, but unhappy that his name tag identifies him as Robin. However, he keeps a good attitude and, declaring his retirement, cancels “The Ram vs. Ayatollah” rematch. Some time later, when Randy presents Stephanie with gifts and shows her an abandoned amusement park where he took her as a child, she agrees to go to dinner with him the following Saturday. Randy again tries to pursue Cassidy, but she tells him that the club and the real world do not mix, and when he persists, states that he is just another customer. Enraged, he throws money at her, demanding that she pretend to like him, prompting a quarrel. Randy attends his next match as an audience member. Afterward, at a bar, a young woman invites him to share drugs and have sex with her. This encounter causes Randy to sleep so late that the next day he misses his dinner date with Stephanie. When he tries to apologize, Stephanie by now has been hurt beyond caring and says she never wants to see him again. On an especially busy day at the deli counter, Randy is besieged by difficult customers, one of whom recognizes him. Frustrated, Randy intentionally bangs his hand on the meat cutter, spattering blood. A rude reprimand from Wayne prompts him to quit, and on the way out, he chants to himself that he is Randy, not Robin. With no encumbrances in his life, he reschedules and preps for The Ram vs. Ayatollah bout. Just as he is about to leave for the match, Cassidy arrives at his trailer. Even though she admits that he is more than a customer, he acts unconcerned and drives off. That evening, Cassidy leaves in the middle of her main stage performance to rush to the match, where, backstage, she asks Randy about his health. When he claims the only place he gets hurt is in the real world, she tearfully tells him she is “really here.” Just then, Randy’s name is announced and he enters the ring, as the crowd cheers. Taking the microphone, Randy tells the crowd that wrestling is all that he does and adds that, when you play hard, you burn the candle at both ends and pay the price by losing everything you love. He admits that he is not all he used to be, but he is still "The Ram" and tells the listeners that they are his family. Moved by the speech, Bob whispers a compliment to Randy then commences the fight. Although surprised by Randy’s urgency, Bob says that he forgot how much fun wrestling is. Soon, however, Bob realizes the strain on Randy’s heart and states that they have given the crowd what is expected. He suggests that Randy perform his final move, but Randy doggedly continues, prompting even the referee to express concern. Unable to watch, Cassidy leaves, and Randy takes one last look at where she had been. After climbing onto the ropes for the “Ram Jam,” Randy, breathing hard, takes a moment to bask in the crowd’s admiration, then dives for his ultimate triumph.
