Cage makes some moves on 'Wrestler'
Source: Hollywood Reporter
NEW YORK -- Nicolas Cage is in talks to star in screenwriter Robert Siegel's indie drama "The Wrestler."
The film, now in development at Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures, centers on Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a 1980s-era star pro wrestler who has become a burnt-out shell of his former self. After he has a heart attack during a small-time match, a doctor tells him he could die if he fights again.
In an effort to build a new life, Robinson takes a job at a deli, moves in with an aging stripper and tries to build a relationship with her son. But the prospect of a rematch with his old nemesis the Ayatollah proves too tempting to resist, even if it means risking his life.
Brooklyn-based Protozoa, named after Aronofsky's 1993 short, has been behind all of the director's features, including "Pi," "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain." The possibility of Aronofsky directing could not be confirmed at press time, and it's unclear if Cage's Saturn Films will jump on board to produce as well.
Cage next stars in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the sequel to his hit 2004 film. He's repped by CAA and Bloom Hergott Diemer.
The Wrestler-palooza
Quote from: MacGuffin on October 12, 2007, 12:25:18 AM
In an effort to build a new life, Robinson takes a job at a deli, moves in with an aging stripper and tries to build a relationship with her son. But the prospect of a rematch with his old nemesis the Ayatollah proves too tempting to resist, even if it means risking his life.
That's the dumbest plot I've ever heard. Not only stupid, but completely inaccurate to the movitations and lifestyles of most professional wrestlers.
Pretty damn powerful. A little fruity but I guess they know what they're doing. We need more heart in pictures...
We're all expecting great things!
That's probably what this was all about.
QuoteMonday, October 1, 2007
OCTOBER 1
Ok so the summer is really gone. The skies are gray over manhattan. It's depressing how quick these seasons fly by. I remember as a kid, they seemed to take forever. There was an infinite reality within a single august month back when I was a kid. Now it's four weekends and it's done. Whine Whine Whine. I know.
We are a week or so from telling all what is next. And guess what, nothing that you've seen on-line or anywhere is accurate. The new project has made no ripples in the press and I like it that way. We start shooting January and I am presently pulling together the team.
Pre-production should begin in the next few days. I will be casting the smaller roles hopefully in the next two weeks.
I plan to write here more once all my cards are on the table, so keep visiting.
http://darrenaronofsky.blogspot.com
DARREN ARONOFSKY = BARTON FINK?
Source: CHUD
It's been known that Darren Aronofsky's production company, Protozoa Pictures, had Robert Siegal's script The Wrestler. But it's only as of yesterday that we know Aronofsky is actually in talks to direct.
This'll make half of a matched salt and pepper shaker set with The Fighter, the story of boxer Irish Mickey Ward, which Aronofsky also still slated to direct, though The Wrestler's start date is currently January 7 which means the fantastic director's next film will be...a Nic Cage picture. Can we just change Cage's name to Wallace Beery for the sake of this article?
The script recap: Cage is Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a burnt-out pro wrestler. He suffers a coronary, retires from the ring, works at a deli, marries a stripper and generally lives the American Dream, only out of tights instead of in them. Then the chance comes to square off again with his wrestling nemesis The Ayatollah, so back to the ring he goes.
This isn't such an odd development. Aronofsky needs to make a picture or two that is relatively inexpensive and stands to make back a few bucks. I'm sure no one is more conscious than him of the fact that, as wonderful a film as The Fountain is, making that movie again (or the Biblical epic we know he'd like to do in the future) isn't possible right now.
Several people have floated the notion that the hasty strike atmosphere might actually make for a couple of interesting pairings where a director could end up with unlikely material, and this seems like one of those deals. Here's hoping that Aronofsky won't end up sitting on a beach with a mysterious box at his feet, terminally bogged down in a movie he doesn't have any ties to; I'd love to see him kill with both these pictures, then hit the ground running afterwards to tackle a project that's near and dear to him.
i don't like him directing this if he didn't write it.
Quote from: MacGuffin on October 20, 2007, 12:36:23 PM
DARREN ARONOFSKY = BARTON FINK?
Source: CHUD
This'll make half of a matched salt and pepper shaker set with The Fighter, the story of boxer Irish Mickey Ward, which Aronofsky also still slated to direct, though The Wrestler's start date is currently January 7 which means the fantastic director's next film will be...a Nic Cage picture.
what the hell does this mean?
Quote from: Neil on October 20, 2007, 01:34:47 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on October 20, 2007, 12:36:23 PM
DARREN ARONOFSKY = BARTON FINK?
Source: CHUD
This'll make half of a matched salt and pepper shaker set with The Fighter, the story of boxer Irish Mickey Ward, which Aronofsky also still slated to direct, though The Wrestler's start date is currently January 7 which means the fantastic director's next film will be...a Nic Cage picture.
what the hell does this mean?
...that he's silly looking.
Quote from: Neil on October 20, 2007, 01:34:47 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on October 20, 2007, 12:36:23 PM
DARREN ARONOFSKY = BARTON FINK?
what the hell does this mean?
It means that I was 8 days ahead of them.
Quote from: IN SPAR_ROWS on October 12, 2007, 08:59:50 AM
Pretty damn powerful. A little fruity but I guess they know what they're doing. We need more heart in pictures...
We're all expecting great things!
Mickey Rourke wires 'Wrestler'
Aronofsky is directing indie drama
Source: Variety
Mickey Rourke is getting into the ring with "The Wrestler," the indie drama that Darren Aronofsky will direct in January.
Rourke will play Randy "The Ram" Robinson," a role that Nicolas Cage had reportedly been set to play. There was no word Sunday as to why he had left the project.
Aronofsky and Robert Siegel wrote the script for "The Wrestler," about an over-the-hill grappler who returns to the ring for one last shot at glory.
Rourke, who once took time away from his screen career to become a boxer, has been enjoying a film resurgence that began with "Man on Fire" and "Sin City." He wrapped the John Madden-directed "Killshot," and is currently starring in the ensemble of "The Informers," a Gregor Jordan-directed adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel.
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 12, 2007, 03:53:58 AM
Mickey Rourke wires 'Wrestler'
...and is currently starring in the ensemble of "The Informers," a Gregor Jordan-directed adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel.
Whaat? How did this fly under the radar?
Quote from: Pwaybloe on November 16, 2007, 12:32:33 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 12, 2007, 03:53:58 AM
Mickey Rourke wires 'Wrestler'
...and is currently starring in the ensemble of "The Informers," a Gregor Jordan-directed adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel.
Whaat? How did this fly under the radar?
I knew about this when I searched Ellis on IMDB last week, but didn't realize it was currently being shot. It was my first Ellis read (after having seen both American Psycho and The Rules of Attraction) and I love it, of course.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogsmithmedia.com%2Fwww.cinematical.com%2Fmedia%2F2008%2F02%2Fmickey-%283%29.jpg&hash=73ba42f577a98591a20e5f3a0562cd60e12c8e23)
First Pic of Mickey Rourke from Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler'
Source: Cinematical
I don't know about you, but after looking at this pic I have the sudden urge to yell "MICKEYYYYY!" Yes, that is the first image of Mickey Rourke from Darren Aronofsky's (Requiem for a Dream) upcoming flick, The Wrestler. Apparently, Aronofsky and crew were in New Jersey last weekend shooting scenes during a live WXW match. I believe the dude standing next to Rourke (who, in case you were wondering, is the shirtless guy with the Fabio cut) is WWE's Afa the Wild Samoan, who's also serving as Rourke's trainer.
The WXW site (where this photo was posted) says matches were filmed, as well as several locker room scenes featuring "some of your favorite WXW superstars." This must have been a treat for those fans, and I personally cannot wait to see what Aronofsky does with a wrestling film. Nicolas Cage was originally supposed to star, but Rourke replacing him was fitting -- after all, the film follows a veteran wrestler who fights all odds for one last chance to battle his arch-nemesis. Substitute 'veteran wrestler' for 'veteran actor' and 'arch-nemesis' for the words 'film career' and the role choice makes total sense. JoBlo also says that Marisa Tomei will star as Rourke's girlfriend, an aging stripper -- which was something I did not know, but right on! The Wrestler will most likely hit theaters later this year.
Tomei joins Aronofsky's 'Wrestler'
Actress to star as stripper in 1980s-era drama
Source: Variety
Marisa Tomei has signed on to play the female lead opposite Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky's indie drama "The Wrestler."
Story centers on an over-the-hill 1980s-era pro grappler (Rourke) who quits the business after a heart attack and moves in with a stripper (Tomei) to build a relationship with her son. Aronofsky and Robert Siegel wrote the screenplay.
Shooting is under way in New York and New Jersey.
Tomei, who most recently co-starred in Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," will segue to the stage after filming "The Wrestler" with a starring role in "Top Girls" on Broadway.
What the fuck? Is this some kind of joke? Pro-wrestling? That shits for rednecks.
Quote from: Stefen on February 12, 2008, 01:37:53 PM
What the fuck? Is this some kind of joke? Pro-wrestling? That shits for rednecks.
I'm a pro wrestling fan and it is a bad idea. The plot pretends that wrestlers wrestle for real and the movitations are the same as in a real sport, like boxing. Movies about wrestling being real used to be made in the 1980s because not everyone knew it was fake back then. Now everyone does know and pro-wrestling has an asburd identity. The fact Arnofsky is going to try to make a drama out it will be hard to be believed. Besides, the plot sounds tired and has been done a million times before anyways.
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on February 12, 2008, 01:55:41 PM
Quote from: Stefen on February 12, 2008, 01:37:53 PM
What the fuck? Is this some kind of joke? Pro-wrestling? That shits for rednecks.
I'm a pro wrestling fan and it is a bad idea. The plot pretends that wrestlers wrestle for real and the movitations are the same as in a real sport, like boxing. Movies about wrestling being real used to be made in the 1980s because not everyone knew it was fake back then. Now everyone does know and pro-wrestling has an asburd identity. The fact Arnofsky is going to try to make a drama out it will be hard to be believed. Besides, the plot sounds tired and has been done a million times before anyways.
I doubt the plot is pretending the wrestling is real. When I was younger I was the most passionate pro-wrestling fan and one of the most fascinating things was the documentaries that showed the actual behind the scenes of the soap opera that is pro wrestling and there are a ton of sad traumatic and heartbreaking stories. These guys may be fake wrestling but they get hurt all the time. Steve Austin broke his neck. The guy who broke his neck died doing some stupid stunt. This guy named Flyin' brian used to tag team with steve austin and he broke his leg and then overdosed on pain medication. and of course there's Chris Benoit. there's a million stories of this sort of the front these steroided up guys have to put up not just pretending to fight each other. There's room between the cracks of the spectacle of it all that show the true sad and pathetic existence of these people. And it gets worse and even more degrading for those who weren't in the "big leagues" and were traveling around to VFWs and American Legions and small-backwards ass town country fairs and carnivals just trying to make a living. This story shouldn't be set in the cheesy world of wrestling from the 80s from movies like Bodyslam or No Holds Barred. I don't think it should take place in the ring at all. I love the idea of Mickey Rourke insteand of NIc Cage (Cage could've ruined it) but that kind of sad existence is already written into every crack of Rourke's face. This could fail horribly in every way. But i think the drama is there in the real-life stories and if i had to put it up to anyone to make a decent movie out of it I'd give it to aronofsky. This could be his Raging bull. I know those are big words but I still have faith that this could work wonderfully.
Looking back at the initial plot outline, you could be right about the realism factor in the film. I remembered the outline specificied that wrestling is portrayed as real in the film, but it doesn't.
The problem with the plot outline is that it could fit any fighting story. The world of professional wrestling has dramatic capabilities, but Arnofsky is going to have to take issues with the aspects of professional wrestling that make it unique. Looking at that basic two sentence synopsis, I don't see how Arnofsky will do it. He could (and I hope he does), but that synopsis will have to include a lot more. Because if he doesn't he will likely make a film that stands in line a million other boxing and fighting movies. It will be tougher to make it great.
I've met a few mexican wrestlers in my time, done a couple of interviews to them, I had one gym teacher at school who used to be a professional wrestler. None of them would ever say the words "that was fake" refering to their own wrestling. Everyone knows is a show, but once you're with them and you see them doing it, it also dawns on you is not completely fake. The hits are real, and that's why they end up completely fucked up by the end of their lives. Also, most of them don't get to be big stars, they don't get to earn that much money, from what I've gathered, most of them do it because they love it. It's a passion that drives them and keeps them on the ring despite not being the most sane, profitable thing to do. I could totally believe an ex wrestler would come back to the ring just because of pride and some sort of adrenaline rush. Some of the guys that I've met became wrestlers because family members they admire were wrestlers, or simply because they always wanted to be that. They don't care about the money that much, specially here, a non famous wrestler can make only as much as 20 dollars per fight. I don't know how it is in the US, but that's how it is here.
Another guy I met always wanted to be a soldier since he was little. He went to the military and ended up so disapointed with the level of idiocy in the mexican army that he droped out and followed his other dream, which has been his life for the last 20 years. Most of these guys can't imagine themselves doing anything else.
I think one has to be an idiot to make a film about professional wrestling without announcing that the outcome is pre-determined. not in a world where more kids believed in Santa than the scripted-ness of wrestling. it seems like a sad clown story, the fool returns to the ring to entertain the crowd one more show...etc., etc.
I guess after making the Fountain, Aronofsky's playing it safe? The whole "one last fight" crap in the synopsis is really giving me doubts. But then I trust him as a filmmaker more than any of those doubts.
behind the scenes - there are 3 more from same user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYlgGpBOxyM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badtaste.it%2Fimages%2Fimmagini%2Fvenezia2008%2Fwrestler01.jpg&hash=0f77d90d8aa676cab946b196fc7f3f5b2af7e3cc)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badtaste.it%2Fimages%2Fimmagini%2Fvenezia2008%2Fwrestler02.jpg&hash=03f8fe70466d6783235f9f0971a4a1df0f8c2d17)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badtaste.it%2Fimages%2Fimmagini%2Fvenezia2008%2Fwrestler03.jpg&hash=e15113b882a90c74b595e3635621f58af081d2e6)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badtaste.it%2Fimages%2Fimmagini%2Fvenezia2008%2Fwrestler04.jpg&hash=79f3a191cc3f612ee1385d9990d667d28cfb49ff)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badtaste.it%2Fimages%2Fimmagini%2Fvenezia2008%2Fwrestler05.jpg&hash=54a97bc9f07fabcf054b4ec2fc0439d395220e6d)
Necrobutcher sucks a fat dick!
From Wikipedia, so......
QuoteRandy "Ram" Robinson (Rourke) is a retired professional wrestler from the 1980s who is forced to retire after a heart attack threatens to kill him the next time he wrestles. Robinson begins a job at a deli, moves in with an aging stripper, and attempts to form a relationship with her son. However, Robinson is drawn to the prospect of a rematch with his old wrestling nemesis the Ayatollah, even though the fight may cost him his life.[1]
haha, you gotta be fucking kidding me.
this is gonna be awesome
So it's like that Simpsons episode where Homer gets shot with a cannonball. I love that episode!
I'm soooo glad they replaced Nic Cage with Mickey Rourke. He's going to be amazing in this.
Todd McCarthy really liked it:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2559&reviewid=VE1117938197
The Wrestler
Mickey Rourke creates a galvanizing, humorous, deeply moving portrait that instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances.
Talk about comebacks. After many years in the wilderness and being considered MIA professionally, Mickey Rourke, just like the washed-up character he plays, attempts a return to the big show in "The Wrestler." Not only does he pull it off, but Rourke creates a galvanizing, humorous, deeply moving portrait that instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances. An elemental story simply and brilliantly told, Darren Aronofsky's fourth feature is a winner from every possible angle, although it will require deft handling by a smart distributor to overcome public preconceptions about Rourke, the subject matter and the nature of the film.
Co-produced by Wild Bunch in France, where Rourke has retained his most loyal following through thick and thin, this is nonetheless an American picture through and through, beginning with the way it strongly evokes the gritty working-class atmosphere of numerous '70s dramas. Spare but vital, and with the increasingly arty mannerisms of Aronofsky's previous work completely stripped away, the film has the clarity and simplicity of a great Hemingway short story -- there's nothing extraneous, the characters must face up to their limited options in life, and the dialogue in Robert Siegel's superior script is inflected with the poetry of the everyday.
All the same, for the first few minutes one could be excused for imagining the film was directed by Belgium's Dardenne brothers, as ace lenser Maryse Alberti's camera relentlessly follows around aging wrestler Randy "the Ram" Robinson (Rourke) from the back, concentrating on his long, dyed-blond hair and hulking body before fully revealing his mottled, puffy face. This guy is 20 years past his prime, but he's still in pretty good shape and aims to get back on top on the pro wrestling circuit.
Ram seems to have always been a big fan favorite -- he is one of their own, a fearless bruiser the white working stiffs can root for against the assorted freaks, ethnic interlopers and outright villains in this macho cartoon universe. A beguiling early scene that firmly sets the movie on its tracks shows an event's muscled participants, all warmly easygoing and chummy with one another, pairing up and discussing what moves they'll make in their matches. A similar later scene has one of the wrestlers offering Ram his choices from a laundry list of dubious-sounding pharmaceuticals.
Apart from the momentary camaraderie of his ringmates, however, Ram is alone in life. At the outset, he's also penniless, locked out of his dismal trailer home until he can pay up. He works occasionally, lugging cartons at a big-box store, and his tough-guy posture is adored by small kids, but he's got no friends and nothing to show for his strenuous efforts.
From time to time, he has a drink at a gentlemen's club, where he visits aging stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), whose days of using her body for her livelihood are similarly numbered. After getting a load of some of Ram's battle scars, Cassidy, whose real name is Pam, tells him he ought to see "The Passion of the Christ." "They threw everything at him," she says, to which Ram guesses Jesus must have been a "tough dude." Ram must confront his mortality after the film's second wrestling match, a bout so gruesome and barbarous it will force some people to look away.
Assessing his options while recovering, Ram decides to gently step up his relationship with Pam, as well as to try to reconnect with his daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), whom he hasn't seen in years. Both women have good reasons not to allow such a damaged man into their intimate lives, but even their most tentative signals of openness give Ram reason to hope for a new chapter in his life. His encounters with them are sensitively written and acted with impressive insight and delicacy, and Ram has one monologue in which he lays his feelings bare to Stephanie at a deserted old Jersey boardwalk -- "I deserve to be alone," he admits -- that is so great, one wishes it were longer.
After a stint at a deli counter that is the source of more good character humor, Ram decides to unretire and fight in a 20th-anniversary rematch of one of his most legendary bouts, "Ram vs. Ayatollah." Despite the hoopla, the way it all plays out is as far from "Rocky Balboa" as one could get, resulting in a climax that is exhilarating, funny and moving.
Shot in rough-and-ready handheld style, pic atmospherically reeks of low-rent lodgings, clubs, American Legion halls, shops and makeshift dressing rooms on the Eastern seaboard in winter (it locationed in New Jersey and Philadelphia). Stylistically, it's agile, alert and most interested in what's going on in the characters' faces.
And that is a lot. Physically imposing at 57, with a face that bespeaks untold battering and alteration, Rourke is simply staggering as Ram. The camera is rarely off him, and one doesn't want it to be, so entirely does he express the full life of this man with his every word and gesture. Ram's life has been dominated by pain in all its forms, but he's also devoted it to the one thing he loves and excels at, so he asks for no sympathy; he may have regrets, but no complaints.
As vibrant -- and as naked -- as she was in last year's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Tomei is in top, emotionally forthright form as she charts a life passage similar to Ram's, if much less extreme. Once her character stops stonewalling her father and hears him out, Wood provides a fine foil for Rourke in their turbulent scenes together. The many supporting thesps, especially the wrestling world habitues, are richly amusing and salt-of-the-earth.
most anticipated blahblah
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Fhr%2Fphotos%2Fstylus%2F38154-wrestler_venice_341.jpg&hash=21c7f774b8ec48992cea2ea409f2af710d3883d8)
Mickey Rourke delivers tour de force as "Wrestler"
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Indie film darling Darren Aronofsky stumbled with his most recent movie, "The Fountain," but he's back on track with "The Wrestler," which had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and is seeking distribution.
Bolstered by a career-best performance from Mickey Rourke and outstanding work by Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood, the film could nab audience interest, especially if Rourke's portrayal generates the awards fever that greeted Ellen Burstyn's turn in Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream."
Rourke plays a one-time wrestling star, Randy the Ram, still hustling 20 years past his prime. The strongest scenes are the opening sections that simply delineate Ram's daily routines. He continues to perform in low-rent arenas, and the film does a fine job revealing the mixture of fakery and bruising physical assaults that are part of the wrestling game. Ram can barely pay his rent, perhaps because he still spends money on his appearance -- dyeing his long locks, visiting a tanning salon and relying on steroids to stay in shape.
This sharp slice of life is not quite enough to sustain a movie, and so writer Robert Siegel has come up with a plot that hits too many predictable notes. When Ram suffers a heart attack, he tries to make changes in his life, reaching out to a tough-as-nails stripper (Tomei) and to his estranged daughter (Wood).
Although the film teeters on the brink of sentimentality, it never topples into the slush, and this is a tribute to the rigorous direction as well as the astringent performances. Still, there are mawkish moments: When Rourke and Wood visit an abandoned beachside emporium, a tear trickles down his cheek as he pleads for her love. "Wrestler" oscillates between hard-edged naturalism and stock melodrama but ends on an understated note of melancholy that seems just right.
Rourke dispenses with all vanity to plumb the depths of this well-meaning but severely damaged man. Tomei delivers one of her most arresting performances, again without any trace of vanity. Wood's part is smaller, but she captures the scalding anger of a woman neglected for most of her life. The supporting players add to the authenticity of the atmosphere. That authenticity is the hallmark of the production, with vivid cinematography and set design.
Ram might be the ultimate loser, but Rourke scores a winning tour de force.
fuck i hope that last sentence isn't the ultimate spoiler.
My old Italian roommate just informed me this one the Golden Lion at Venice. I'm glad it's getting some good reviews and prestige, this had me way nervous before. Article here:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=story&id=1061&articleid=VR1117991766&cs=1
What the fuck is going on here? Why did I even doubt Aronofsky?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRDainAvvrk&eurl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRDainAvvrk&eurl)
Fox Searchlight Acquires The Wrestler
Source: ComingSoon
Fox Searchlight Pictures President Peter Rice today announced that the company has acquired US rights to the riveting drama The Wrestler, which had its North American premiere last night at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the Golden Lion at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. Directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Rob Siegel, The Wrestler stars Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. The film was produced by Scott Franklin and Darren Aronofsky thru Protozoa Pictures. Vincent Maraval, Agnes Mentre and Jennifer Roth served as executive producers and Mark Heyman co-produced. The film is scheduled to be released in December 2008.
Said Fox Searchlight Pictures President Peter Rice, "Darren Aronofsky has created an unbelievably electrifying and compelling tale with tour de force performances. We are delighted to be releasing this brilliantly executed film and thank Wild Bunch for choosing Searchlight."
Added Darren Aronofsky, "I've known Peter Rice for many, many years and am excited and honored to finally get a chance to collaborate with him and his team."
Said Vincent Maraval "We are delighted to have closed the deal with Fox Searchlight which we believe is the best distributor for this movie."
Back in the late '80s, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, twenty years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of diehard wrestling fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey.
Estranged from his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and unable to sustain any real relationships, Randy lives for the thrill of the show and the adoration of his fans. However, a heart attack forces him into retirement. As his sense of identity starts to slip away, he begins to evaluate the state of his life -- trying to reconnect with his daughter, and strikes up a blossoming romance with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei). Yet all this cannot compare to the allure of the ring and passion for his art, which threatens to pull Randy "The Ram" back into his world of wrestling.
Director Darren Aronofsky presents a powerful portrait of a battered dreamer, who despite himself and the odds stacked against him, lives to be a hero once again in the only place he considers home inside the ring.
Mickey Rourke, Part 2: Actor vs. director
FROM THE TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL:
When "The Wrestler" director Darren Aronofsky decided he wanted to go ahead with the film, he remembers having a casting epiphany: The actor who'd be absolutely perfect for the part of an over-the-hill wrestler would be ... Mickey Rourke. Most directors would've immediately run to their shrink and confessed that they had a career death wish. Mickey Rourke? The famously unruly, unreliable, uncontrollable motorcycle-riding madman? Aronofsky knew what he was getting himself into.
"All my friends said, 'No way, you can't do this. You can't make a movie where the whole film depends on Mickey,' " Aronofsky told me yesterday. But the hard-headed director set up a meeting with the actor anyway. "I was very honest with him, like you'd be in a marriage. We looked each other in the eye and I said, 'This is a purely artistic venture. There's no money.' But if he would show up, if he really, really wanted the chance to be a lead in a film again, I wanted to do it with him."
Of course, Rourke remembers the encounter a bit differently. "I was sitting in a restaurant in the West Village that my friend Julian Schnabel turned me on to and this guy shows up, riding a bicycle, with this green helmet and an unbelievably dorky outfit. And I go, 'That must be him. Darren Aronofsky--smart Jewish boy from Brooklyn." Rourke unleashes a derisive snort. "Darren has got to be the worst dresser on the planet. That outfit! He told me it was Prada, but all I could think was--he looks like a UPS delivery guy."
Rourke says Aronofsky didn't waste any time getting to the point. "There were no formalities. He said 'You've been difficult.' I nodded my head. He said, 'You've thrown your career away.' I nodded my head. Whatever he said, I agreed. He tried to make me feel 2 inches tall. He raised his voice and he pointed his finger at me and said, 'You can never disrespect me. You can never [mess] around with girls at night. You can't go to Miami over the holidays because I know you'll be out partying every night. And by the way, I can't pay you because we have no money.' "
Rourke laughs. "That's how bad my career had gotten. I had to listen to all that crap and take it. I kept thinking, 'This guy must really be talented'--I'm leaving out a few choice profanities that Rourke used for emphasis--'to get away with talking to me that way.' But it was OK. I like a guy that's honest from the start. We never had a problem."
But why didn't Rourke butt heads with Aronofsky, the way he did with so many other directors?
Rourke says Aronofsky's self-confidence won him over. "That very first day we met, he said, 'I'll take you to the show. I'll get you a nomination for this part.' And after the first week of work, I believed him. He walked the walk and that got my respect. Darren is like a really demanding football coach, like Vince Lombardi or Tom Landry. He said, 'Give Rourke the ball' and I ran with it."
If Aronofsky thought Rourke needed a little extra motivation, he was not afraid to offer it. When Rourke was doing his scenes with Evan Rachel Wood, the young actress who plays his daughter in the film, Aronofsky would heap praise on her performance. "Then he'd come over to me and say, 'You really sucked. She's totally smoking you. You better bring your A-game to this scene or she's gonna wipe the floor with you,' " Rourke says. "But let me tell you, I loved working with her. She's a real pro and she's going places. She's like Rita Hayworth. I wouldn't have a problem doing a scene with her on Mars."
Rourke had to undergo a grueling training regime to play the part--he says he did all of his wrestling stunts in the film. Even though he's a boxing fan, he now has renewed respect for the physical pounding wrestlers take every night in the ring. "The first time a 260-pound guy threw me across the ring, I knew I was in for it--every tooth in my mouth, the real and the fake ones, ached for days. I went to the chiropractor twice a week. I had three MRIs in two months. That stuff is not fake."
Rourke says his trainer was a former Israeli commando and ex-cage fighter. "He never let up on me. Under no circumstances could I say, 'I don't feel like training today.' He had a key to my hotel room. So even if I had three girls in my bed, it didn't matter. I had to work out. Luckily, he's very religious, so he always took the Sabbath off. That was the only time I got a break."
The critics will be swooning over Rourke's performance in "The Wrestler" for months to come. But I couldn't help but wonder--is this that once-in-a-lifetime performance? Or can Rourke keep his act together long enough to string together enough parts to put his career back on track? If anything could possibly explain the strange sensitivity of his psyche, it's his love for his Chihuahuas. He has six of them, but the one that seems to be a dog of truly Rourkian proportions is Jaws, also known as Little Mickey.
Rourke saved the dog from being put to sleep at an animal shelter. It had been badly abused and was totally uncontrollable, always foaming at the mouth and growling at anyone that tried to come near him. So of course, Rourke tried to give him a kiss. Jaws instantly bit Rourke in the mouth. "There was blood everywhere. It looked like I'd been hit by a car. I had to go get stitches. But I kept him. He just needed to trust someone. For the first few months, he had nightmares every night. When I'd be watching football, he'd jump on my bed and walk up and down my stomach, baring his teeth like he was Predator or something."
And then suddenly one day the dog calmed down and put his head on Rourke's shoulder. Mickey acts it out, reaching out and resting his head on my shoulder in the middle of the Four Seasons lobby. "I'm not saying he was totally normal," Rourke says. "In the winter, you still couldn't put a hoodie on him. And after he growled at everyone on the set, the PAs put a nice little sign up, saying 'Be Careful of White Dog in Mickey's Trailer.' But he wasn't so crazy anymore."
One day Rourke took the dog to meet his therapist. "My therapist said, in his very soft voice, 'Well, Mickey, why do you think you took to Jaws so well?' " Rourke laughs. "I think I've finally figured out what he means."
Oh shit.
I can't wait for this fucking movie to come out.
Mickey Rourke Explains His Preparation For 'The Wrestler': 'I Had Some Demons'
Director Darren Aronofsky also on hand to discuss buzzed-about indie film.
Source: MTV
Mickey Rourke's performance as Randy "the Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler" is the kind of thing you can't wait to tell everybody you know about. You may have heard the first whispers about it already. Since debuting at the Venice Film Festival last week and premiering in North America at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this week, the buzz has started to build. And I'm here to tell you it's for real. If this isn't an Oscar-caliber performance, I don't know what is.
A moving and soulful portrait of a man who can find no peace outside of a wrestling ring, Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" could have been pitched as "Rocky Balboa" without the happy ending. Eschewing the stylistic flourishes he became known for with films like "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain," Aronofsky's latest offering is spare and quietly mesmerizing, even when its protagonist is bleeding and battered.
MTV News caught up with Rourke and Aronofsky in Toronto only hours after the film was sold to Fox Searchlight (which will, by all accounts, release "The Wrestler" for awards consideration before the end of the year). We found an introspective and ultimately upbeat Rourke, mindful of his past mistakes and eager for the next phase of his career.
MTV: This is such a raw performance in every conceivable way. Did you know what you were getting yourself into?
Mickey Rourke: I knew 10 days into making this movie that this would be the best movie I ever made, and I knew after three days that it would be the hardest movie I ever made. I didn't have a wrestling background. People like to go, "Oh, he was an ex-professional boxer — he can do the wrestling." Wrestling and boxing is like Ping-Pong and rugby. There's no connection. These guys get really hurt. You've got guys who are 265 [pounds] throwing you across the ring. They take several years to learn how to land. I landed like a lump of sh--. Every bone in my body vibrated. Darren would go, "Let's do it again!" I was like, "Give me five f---ing minutes to relax!" Here's a guy whose only exercise he ever did was lifting his fork to his mouth, and he's going, "C'mon, Mickey, you're only giving me 50 percent!" That's part of his thing, to push my buttons.
MTV: What kind of training did you go through?
Rourke: I got a really good Israeli trainer who made me pump iron and do the cardio for four months. Then we did two hours of weight training and cardio and two hours of wrestling practice. This is months before the film. By the time we shot the movie I was like, "This is the easy part." The other stuff was murder.
MTV: I've heard that you rewrote a lot of your dialogue in the film.
Rourke: I rewrote all of my scenes and all of my dialogue. The speech at the end I wrote the night before.
MTV: That's a heartbreaking speech for this character. Where did it come from?
Rourke: I was an amateur fighter way before I was an actor. I got hurt and I quit. I had a lot of shame about that. I felt I quit because I was afraid I was going to fail. When I turned 34 I went back and [fought]. I did pretty good. I had 12 fights and six knockouts. It probably wasn't the brightest decision in my life, but I had some demons as a man. At that point, I was getting really destructive. I didn't want to act anymore. I had issues from my childhood. It was shame that turned into anger. Some really awful things happened. Boxing was almost like a healing process for me.
[Aronofsky joins.]
MTV: This sounds like a close collaboration between you two.
Rourke: The best thing that I can thank Darren for is he surrounded me with the best possible people. We had some stuff choreographed for the movie that was going to be a lot simpler than what we did. And then one of the real wrestlers would do a fancy move, and I'd say, "I want to do that!"
Darren Aronofsky: I'd be like, "You're crazy! Just do the basic moves."
Rourke: As soon as my head got in that mindset, I wanted to be the best wrestler in three months in the world.
Aronofsky: And by the end of it, a lot of his trainers said to me, "He's better than 80 percent of the WWF guys out there."
Rourke: I was more proud of that than the acting.
MTV: I've never seen a film that stayed quite literally on the back of a character for so much of the story.
Aronofsky: It's one of the connections me and Mickey have. My mentor at film school was Stuart Rosenberg who directed "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Pope of Greenwich Village" [which starred Rourke]. When I first met Mickey I tried to impress him by saying I was Stuart's friend. And Mickey told me, "Stuart taught me one thing. He taught me how to act with my back."
Rourke: There's a scene [in "The Pope of Greenwich Village"] where Daryl Hannah shoots me down. As I walk out, Stuart says to me, "You just got dumped by the love of your life. You're going to walk out of the room." Now what does a guy do then when they have to go out and face the world? [Rourke gets up and demonstrates a slow, defeated walk.] He walks out, stops a second. [Rourke stops, subtly collects himself and continues walking.] It was little things like that.
MTV: When I watched the film I couldn't help but think about your personal ups and downs, Mickey. Did you guys discuss the audience coming to this with that kind of knowledge?
Aronofsky: No, we never talked about that. For me, it was always about the talent of this man who's been playing heavies for 20 years and never showing his sympathetic side.
Rourke: For me, it was a little different. I had a career 15 years ago, and I screwed it up from my issues I couldn't deal with until I got help. When you were somebody and then you're not anybody anymore you live in a state of shame. Randy is a proud guy. He doesn't want to work at a deli counter. He wants the audience still, but his time has passed him by.
MTV: Mickey, how are you feeling today, both physically and about where your career can go at this point?
Rourke: I looked in the mirror when my boxing career was over. My equilibrium was off. I can't do intricate things with my hands because of the nerve damage. There are a few teeth missing. I don't remember things the way I used to. But I was fortunate. I got out when the doctors told me. I wasted a lot of time. I want to work with interesting directors. I'm going to do a lot of work because of the time I wasted.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfilm.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fdarren_aronovsky_low-440x598.jpg&hash=5f60579be6f44c5a70aa55c9d096cff555002a4e)
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - Part 1
Source: SlashFilm
Darren Aronofsky is the director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. His latest film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and was bought by Fox Searchlight the morning after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (You can read my review here). Earlier this week, I was granted the chance to sit down with Aronofsky for a half hour interview. Below is the first part of the interview. We will be running the next part tomorrow, and the third part on Friday. Enjoy.
Peter Sciretta: There was a very long period of time between Requiem [for a Dream] and trying to get The Fountain off the ground. And now The Wrestler is being billed almost as a come back film...
Darren Aronofsky: Oh, that's silly...
Peter Sciretta: So why was there such a long break?
Darren Aronofsky: Well, as you know, I had to make the Fountain twice. The first incarnation with Brad Pitt was much publicized and then it fell apart. I had to basically rewrite it and put it back together with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. So basically it was about 6, 7 years for the whole thing from start to finish. So for me it was almost like making two different movies. We were at seven weeks out from shooting the first Fountain 1.0 when it fell apart. It was fully story-boarded and shot listed, and...
Peter Sciretta: All the sets were built?
Darren Aronofsky: They were 60 or 70 percent built. We had 120-foot tall Mayan pyramid constructed. We had 150 Mayans about to board plane to Queensland, Australia. We were 20 million dollars in, or something...
Peter Sciretta: That must have been heartbreaking.
Darren Aronofsky: Oh, it was disastrous for me, but... I had been through heartbreak in my career before, in film school, so I was kind of prepared and I kind of just tried to take it as positively as I could. I grabbed a backpack, literally a knapsack, with one change of clothes and I went to China and India for a few weeks and cleared my head, because I was over in Australia for five months. I then spent about six to eight months trying to get something else going. I developed a few other projects and actually the beginnings of The Wrestler.
Peter Sciretta: So you developed The Wrestler?
Darren Aronofsky: The Wrestler was my idea. When I graduated film school in '92 / '93, one day I wrote a list of ten ideas for films in my diary. And one of them was called The Wrestler. When The Fountain shut down the first time I started to think about it. I knew I wanted to do a wrestling picture. I teamed up my producer on this film, Scott Franklin, who was a wrestling fan, a bigger wrestling fan than me, and he loved the idea. He's also a writer.
Peter Sciretta: You come from New York and so [wrestling] must have been all over the place?
Darren Aronofsky: I wasn't a huge fan as a kid. I went to one match at Madison Square Garden with my best friend and my dad. I remember we all lost our voices from screaming so loud. Hulk Hogan was a bad guy and I remember Tony Atlas lifting up Hulk Hogan and dropping him on his balls on the top rope. We went crazy, it was great. I think I went to a couple of other little matches at veterans halls. So it was in my head a bit, but I was never a crazy fan. It was like a small window, and it was before the Hulk-mania, so it wasn't so big. It was still kind of in the early 80's. So it wasn't quite the phenomenon that it became. And by the time Hulkmania came out, I wasn't interested in it. But I thought that the boxing movie is a genre film, and there's been thousands of boxing movies - who knows how many. But no one has ever done a serious wrestling film. No one has ever done a serious film about a wrestler.
Peter Sciretta: Every fictional film so far treats it as if it were a real sport...
Darren Aronofsky: Yeah, and all the Barton Fink jokes, which we were aware of... "Aronofsky, what are you going to do? A wrestling picture?" You know. [laughs] And some people picked up on it. In fact, at the Venice Film Festival, they asked for a director's quote, and I sent in a quote from Barton Fink. But no one had ever done a serious film and I always wondered why. I think that's because most people think wrestling is a joke. It's really looked down upon by a lot of people, but the more research I started to do into that world, the more complex, and the more tragic I found it to be. The mortality rate of these guys is just staggering. And the fact that it's not at all really examined is really curious. And the fact that it's so popular. It's like one of the most popular forms of entertainment in America and no one's studied it in any way. We realized pretty quickly when we started to work on it that me being the type of film maker I am probably trying to do something with the WWE and having creative freedom wasn't going to happen so I couldn't really do something contemporary so originally we started to think about me and Scott to do something as a period piece, be it pre-WWF because then we wouldn't have to deal with it. But then we realized this was a low-budget movie, so we figured we had to do something contemporary. We started to look at the backwoods wrestling matches that go on, all over New Jersey and everywhere in the country. They're going on and I saw a lot of these veterans there and that kind of triggered the idea of an older time guy, and...
Peter Sciretta: Well, it's also interesting that your film is the first wrestling film not to have the promoter as the villain...
Darren Aronofsky: [laughs]
Peter Sciretta: Or you know, the it's like you don't really have a villain...
Darren Aronofsky: I don't think I've ever had a villain in any of my movies. If you really think about it, or at least a traditional villain. I haven't made a film like that. I just wanted to tell a true story of a character going through this and what that lifestyle was like, the lifestyle as they call it.
Peter Sciretta: I think you pretty much nailed it. Before, when I was younger I was really into wrestling and the behind the scenes aspects really interested in and I think you've nailed that aspect of it. This is also a departure from your last project, and it was made for considerably less.
Darren Aronofsky: The Fountain was thirty million dollars and this is six, so it's a fifth - 20 percent of the budget. After I spent two years in post on all the visual effects on The Fountain, about a year and a half of post work, and a lot of it was technical work. I love that work, but for me the most exciting aspect of filmmaking is working with actors. I just was craving to work with actors so my mandate after that time spent in post was like, I just want to do a quick piece with actors. I just want to work with actors, I want to work with actors. So I looked at my list of projects and I saw The Wrestler thing and I just started to think about it. And that's kind of when I ran into Robert Siegel, who wrote the final screenplay. Rob was originally one of the first writers of the Onion, and wrote this great script which made the rounds around Hollywood. Actually he just directed it by himself independently. It was such a great script. I met with him and I just started telling him about sort of things I was working on and I told him about the script that Scott had written about The Wrester, and how he didn't nail it, and he said "Wrestling? I love wrestling!" And so then he started from scratch. And basically, about the same time is when the idea of Mickey came up, and I can't remember how the idea of Mickey came up immediately, but as soon as I met with him it was just clear that this was the man for the job.?
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.
Interview: Darren Aronofksy - Part 2
Source: SlashFilm
Darren Aronofsky is the director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. His latest film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and was bought by Fox Searchlight the morning after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (You can read my review here). Earlier this week, I was granted the chance to sit down with Aronofsky for a half hour interview. You can read the first part of the interview here. We will be running the final part tomorrow. Enjoy.
Peter Sciretta: How was your experience with the wrestling fans? I can imagine...
Darren Aronofsky: They were fantastic. They were hilarious. Look, I'll tell you a funny story. We went out to shoot that final Ayatollah match. And this was set after Mickey sliced his thumb [in the story timeline]. One time we forgot to put the tape on and someone from the audience screamed that he forgot the tape on his thumb. "You forgot the tape!" And I heard it. And I was like, "Oh shit, we've got to tape him". So the whole audience started screaming, "You fucked up!" Then Mickey came out and did that big heart-felt speech. I didn't tell the audience it was going to happen. I just sent Mickey out there, because I just wanted to see what would happen with the audience. I was into this "live thing". But the audience was shouting responses and they were stepping all over his lines. They didn't show any respect to it. So I went out there and I was like "You guys, this is a heart felt moment. This is a man at the end of his career who you love and you respect..." And then they all started screaming. "We fucked up. We fucked up." So they were great! The Ring of Honor audience was great. The CZW audience were obviously very rowdy and cursing us out. There's that YouTube video where they attack us. But they loved it. They couldn't help themselves but to be rude. And then the first match, that first match for Afa's promotion, WXW was much more controllable.
Peter Sciretta: This is the first film you didn't write? Were you involved part of the writing process?
Darren Aronofsky: me and my team at Protozoa did a lot of development, and really worked with Rob a lot. And that's why I took a producing credit, which I've never done before. The structure and the bones of it was a collaboration between us and Rob. But Rob also added the humor. He wrote the Passion of the Christ line and he wrote the great Kurt Cobain line. He brought details that were just fantastic in the project.
Peter Sciretta: Did the budget dictate the style or was that a choice you specifically made?
Darren Aronofsky: I kind of wanted to do the project, wanting to free myself from the technical work I had been doing in The Fountain. And actually I should say, for me, Pi, Requiem and The Fountain were really a trilogy. I kind of call it like my mind, body, spirit trilogy. Pi - being mind, Requiem - being body and The Fountain - being spirit.
Peter Sciretta: That's awesome...
Darren Aronofsky: And as far as a progression of style. Even though I hope they are unique of each other, there's definitely connections between them. That was for me as a filmmaker, I was growing and developing a language. But if Madonna taught us anything, it's that you've got to reinvent yourself. And I really believe that and so I kind of felt like The Fountain was everything I wanted to do, in the sense that everything in it, every frame, every sound effect on the speakers was thought about, and controlled and tweaked to what we wanted. And I just wanted to throw that out the window. That was a big part when I cast Mickey. I realized what type of actor he was. I wanted him to create an environment where he could completely roam free. So I hired Maryse Alberti to be the cinematographer. Maryse has done a lot of fiction work, but has also done a lot of documentary. So we just sort of lit up the spaces so that we could just basically let Mickey roam. We did crazy things like at that big wrestling match when I told Mickey to just "Go back stage" after their match ends. And that was not scripted. Those guys didn't know we were coming. That was the first take and the only take, and we just put the camera on our shoulder and we followed Mickey through the crowd. And they just reacted. The wrestlers were great because they are entertainers and they're used to cameras so they were just totally natural in front of the camera, and they just went for it. So we could do things like that.
Peter Sciretta: That was one of my favorite shots of the film, that and the sequence where Mickey first goes to the deli and it's almost like him walking through the backstage area while getting ready to make his entrance to the ring.
Darren Aronofsky: He did not like that scene, just so you know. Because he just felt the shame of Randy the Ram. Most of it was improvised; in fact a lot of those customers were not actors, they were real customers and we just started filming. They knew the camera was there, and we were like, "Hey! Do you mind if we shoot this?" I don't know if they knew Mickey Rourke but they were like, "OK. Fine." That woman ordering the chicken, that just happened. Really. All improvised. The supermarket was open and people were coming up to him. We didn't shut down. We didn't have the budget to shut the super market down. We were just behind the deli counter and people were shopping. We would kind of control them with PA's. One of the managers came up and said "You know, the check out people can't read Mickey's handwriting." And I was like, "What are you talking about?" Apparently some people were trying to buy some of the things that Mickey was filling out. I mean Mickey's scribbling random numbers. He doesn't know what anything is. And customers actually went home with the food that Mickey put together.
Peter Sciretta: That is funny. That is really funny.
Darren Aronofsky: Yeah.
Peter Sciretta: And I noticed that some of the people in the Deli sequence also had the last name of Aronofsky.
Darren Aronofsky: Yeah, my parents. Both of them have been in all the films, so it was great to bring them back in.
Peter Sciretta: How did Mickey's training go? There's some sequences in there where he's fighting and it looks like a real wrestling match of an older wrestler.
Darren Aronofsky: He did every single move in that film. He performed everything in that film. And he wanted to. We hired Afa. I don't know if you remember the Wild Samoans. Afa is a great wrestling teacher, now out in Allentown. He put together a team of guys who trained Mickey for three months to do it. As he got deeper and deeper into it, he wanted to do more and more and more challenging and more and more difficult things, which scared the shit out of me. As a director concerned for his safety, but as you know, he didn't want to look like a sap. One of his trainers, Tommy Rotten, came up to me last night and said, "he's better than 80 percent of the guys in the WWE right now. And there's not a wrestler in the world who will see this movie and not think Mickey is a wrestler." Yes, Mickey is athletic, we know he was a boxer. But boxing and wrestling are opposites in many ways, even though they both take place in the ring. Mickey explained to me, that in boxing you hide where you're going, you don't want people to see your moves. But wrestling is the exact opposite, you're showing them. It's complete broadness. Boxing is like a simple quick, can't see it, wrestling is all about being seen. So it actually hurt Mickey having been trained as a boxer. I had to constantly watch him and make sure he wasn't moving like a boxer in the ring because they move completely differently than wrestlers. But being a boxer and trying to play a wrestler was very difficult for that reason as well as the reason is that most boxers look down on wrestling. But I think as he met Afa and as he met all these old-timers, Greg The Hammer Valentine, that he saw that it was a real art and truly a real sport. I think he learned to really respect it and I think he's very proud.
Peter Sciretta: Did he even like the glass shot, and stuff like that?
Darren Aronofsky: No, he didn't go through the glass, but he did get hit on the back with the bucket and so he did a lot of it. There were a few things he couldn't do, you know. He climbed to the top rope. You saw that shot where he jumps on the top rope and mounts the other guy and does the spin. So he did a lot of crazy stuff.
Peter Sciretta: Can you talk a little about the music of The Wrestler. You have Slash doing guitar riffs for Clint Mansell's score, and you have Bruce Springsteen... How did you pull that one off?
Darren Aronofsky: Well, Bruce Springsteen did the film for one reason. And it had nothing do with me. In fact, to be honest, I met with Bruce, and he's heard of me, which is very flattering, but he had never seen any of my work. He did it for one reason and that was that he did it for Mickey. He's a friend of Mickey's. He's a tremendous fan of Mickey's and when he heard about this film, he felt that this was something that Mickey's been looking for for years. So he wanted to help, and that's the only reason he did it. And he did it for basically nothing.
Peter Sciretta: That's awesome.
Darren Aronofsky: Purely out of love for Mickey. And so I can't wait for him to see the movie because Asbury Park is in it and I think he'll be psyched.
Peter Sciretta: Oh, I'm surprised he hasn't seen the movie. You listen to that song and it's so dead on...
Darren Aronofsky: He actually put more effort into it. He read the screenplay which is probably harder than watching the movie. He read the screenplay, knew it and basically just pumped it out. It's a beautiful song. As Mickey says, rock stars love him, and so he got Axl [Rose] to close a deal on Sweet Child of Mine. It was really fun rediscovering all that old Hair metal and finding a place for it in the film. And then Clint did a very subtle job in this movie, as compared to what we've done in the past. The film really didn't call for a big score and what I really admire about what Clint did with the help of Slash is that they did very very very subtle work.
Peter Sciretta: Yeah, I didn't even notice it...
Darren Aronofsky: Yeah, I know, I read your video [blog].
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - Part 3
Source: SlashFilm
Darren Aronofsky is the director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. His latest film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and was bought by Fox Searchlight the morning after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (You can read my review here). Earlier this week, I was granted the chance to sit down with Aronofsky for a half hour interview. You can read the first part and the second part of the interview at the provided links. Enjoy.
Peter Sciretta: Speaking of boxing. What's going on with The Fighter?
Darren Aronofsky: We have a beautiful screenplay. It's based on, you probably know, Mickey Ward. It's a great great project. As I told you I love sports movies. Rudy and Chariots of Fire are some of my favorite films. Fighter is a great script. Scott Silver wrote it. He's the guy who wrote Eight Mile. So we have a great script, we're just trying to cast it and try and figure out how it's going to get made.
Peter Sciretta: So right now is it kind of on the back burner? Last I heard that Mark Wahlberg was training?
Darren Aronofsky: Mark is training. Mark's totally gung-ho, he just sent me text that he wants to see [the Wrestler] this week. So I guess I'll set up a screening for him in L.A. He's totally gung-ho and I think it's a great project. It's been in development so long there's a lot of money against it already. They're trying to figure that out but I'm ready to go on it.
Peter Sciretta: And when I first saw the rumors Robocop I was like "No way! This can't be rea!?"
Darren Aronofsky: Well, what I like about Robocop is that it's Hollywood is making big films right now and I've always had an interest in that. You know about my flirtations with some of those other projects, but which at some point we'll set the record straight on a lot of it because there's a lot of bullshit out there about all this stuff... But what the thing I like about Robocop is that it's not as iconic as those other titles, and I think that fans of it will be open to reinterpretation. And yet a studio will probably back it because it's got that tent pole feeling to it. I think it could be a lot of fun if we can get the script right. I've always had an interest in doing big movies, and not just doing independent films. And that's why I've tried to get them going a lot. The whole thing with The Dark Knight was that through that whole process I was always trying to make The Fountain and because I was on the Fountain for six years, they moved on. But that was my main goal and when they offered the project to me I thought it was probably the smartest thing to do since this was before Requiem for a Dream had any fan base. I figured they're never going to hire me to do something with the Fountain. I had to get them to perceive me as being a bigger director, so that's why I agreed to write it.
Peter Sciretta: So Batman: Year One was almost like a stepping stone?
Darren Aronofsky: It was, the whole step. The whole game for me was to make The Fountain. And for the last 6 or 7 years that's all I wanted to do. The Batman job was just a way of getting to see it. Watchmen... I was on Watchman for a week. I was literally on it for a week. David Hayter wrote a fuckin amazing script. I mean, he really caught it. Zack Snyder's Trailer looks fucking great. I can not wait, couldn't believe it. But literally I was on for a week. They said were you interested? I said yeah. We set it up at Paramount in a meeting. And then they said, let's hire a production designer and this was literally when Hugh Jackman had just come on and the Fountain thing was going. So I was like, "Guys, I'm about to shoot The Fountain. You know, we can hire a designer but I'm going to be shooting this movie while that's happening." Then they quickl put Paul Greengrass on it. So I had very little to do with the project. I wish they would remove my name from both of those projects because I never really got involved.
Peter Sciretta: Back to Robocop, is it going to be a sequel or is it a remake.
Darren Aronofsky: It's absolutely unrelated to the original. As Mike Medavoy already went on the record. David Self and my team have been working really hard on it. It's a completely new universe.
Peter Sciretta: Is it going to be set in the future, or is it going to be today?
Darren Aronofsky: It's going to be the future. And it's really great. We've got to nail the script then we've got to find a script that the studio wants to make. So we've got work to do...
Peter Sciretta: So tell me this, with The Fountain you did so many practical special effects, like that whole climax sequence... with Robocop would you be...
Darren Aronofsky: I have no idea. I have no idea. It's so early, but I think cyborgs are really interesting, because... I think it's so funny. I got an MRI. Here's a funny story. The last day of shooting, Mickey made me jump off the top rope. He made the whole crew jump off the top rope. I went first, and it was the last day of shooting, after a grueling shoot. It was late at night, and I was wearing boots. I wasn't even wearing sneakers and I jumped. I got over the top rope and my tip of my toe caught the top rope and I went bam! I landed on my fuckin' head and on my neck. My neck was killing me for five weeks, so I went to get MRI. I'm fine, but to take an MRI, you can't have any metal on your body because it's basically a giant magnet. So there's a check list of probably 30 things that you could have. Like an eyelid shutter, pacemakers, re-implants. I couldn't believe the different types of things that people have in their bodies. And I realized you know what? We are in a cyborg culture, we are part cyborg already. It's only a matter of time till we have the cell phones in our head and the mp3 players in our ears...
Peter Sciretta: And it's all going to get more nano too.
Darren Aronofsky: Yeah, so there are a lot of interesting themes out there that connect even more than when Verhoeven did it. A nd I have full 100 percent respect for that, but I kind of don't even want to go near that territory, except for the "bitches, leave!" line. [laughs] Otherwise I think that's the only shout out to the movie we'll have.
Peter Sciretta: That's awesome. The only other thing I wanted to ask you about is when you were in San Francisco with The Fountain, you told me about your next project, which was going to be a religious film...
Darren Aronofsky: That was Noah.
Peter Sciretta: Yes, Noah, what's happening with that?
Darren Aronofsky: We have an amazing screenplay.
Peter Sciretta: Who wrote it??
Darren Aronofsky: I wrote it. Me and Ari Handel, the guy who worked on the Fountain. It's a great script and it's HUGE. And we're starting to feel out talent. And then we'll probably try and set it up...
Peter Sciretta: So this isn't something you can make for six million dollars?
Darren Aronofsky: No, this is big. I mean, Look... It's the end of the world and it's the second most famous ship after the Titanic. So I'm not sure why any studio won't want to make it.
Peter Sciretta: [laughs]
Darren Aronofsky: [laughs]
Peter Sciretta: You would hope so.?
Darren Aronofsky: Yeah, I would hope so. It's a really cool project and I think it's really timely because it's about environmental apocalypse which is the biggest theme, for me, right now for what's going on on this planet. So I think it's got these big, big themes that connect with us. Noah was the first environmentalist. He's a really interesting character. Hopefully they'll let me make it. Oh that's right I forgot I told you that whole religious thing.
[At this point a publicist came in to drag Darren away]
Darren Aronofsky: I had forgotten about San Francisco but now I totally remember. All right, man, it's been really good to see you. Thank you so much.
Something about Aronofsky being a wrestling fan rubs me the wrong way. I'm a big MMA fan and unfortunately have to come in contact with pro-wrestling fans every once in awhile and I can easily say they are some of the dumbest people I have ever met. Granted, that's a brash generalization, but stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.
Quote from: Stefen on September 15, 2008, 10:21:21 AM
Something about Aronofsky being a wrestling fan rubs me the wrong way. I'm a big MMA fan and unfortunately have to come in contact with pro-wrestling fans every once in awhile and I can easily say they are some of the dumbest people I have ever met. Granted, that's a brash generalization, but stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.
Haha, I'm a big professional wrestling fan, but that also may be proof of your point.
Anyways, he doesn't strike me as a wrestling fan. In the interviews he mentions going to one event back in the early 1980s, but his main point is that he pictured The Wrester as a boxing movie. He considers it to be its own genre, but there have been so many boxing movies that he felt the story would better suited for a different thing, so he chose professional wrestling. The idea came to him in the early 90s so it developed before MMA ever came to true prominence.
GT, I think we've had this conversation off the board before. I just think WWE/pro-wrestling fans are Neanderthals.
Not all. I mean, some are intelligent like you and Aronofsky, but the majority are a bunch of redneck, white trash morons from the South. Having been an MMA fan since before it became cool, I see alot of these WWE fans flocking to the sport, and they're AWFUL. I guess it's unfair to generalize all of them, but I'm just going by the ones I've had experiences with.
I'm way stoked for the flick. I just find it odd that Aronofsky is a fan of that kind of stuff. It's like finding out PTA is a fan of Kid Rock and is going to do a biopic based on his life. It's like, "WHAT. THE. FUCK?"
I think you're taking it too far, Stefen. He says he's not a big fan, but he can respect, which is very different being a caveman. I'm no fan, but I was when I was a kid, and my brother-in-law still likes it and we'll watch some every now and then. And it's really hilarious, dramatic stuff. The pageantry of it all is really entertaining. The fans may be awful, but that's just people for you.
i'm seeing this at the New York Film Festival, which is cool because last year i didn't get tickets to most of the stuff i wanted to see.
10 Things You Need to Know About The Wrestler (http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/09/10_things_you_need_to_know_abo.html)
The first wave of stories about Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which closes the New York film Festival in two weeks, mostly ask: "What in the hell happened to Mickey's face?" But once everyone sees the movie — which is like The Champ if Jon Voight listened to Motley Crue, had his own action figure, and occasionally let another man in tights shoot him in the chest with a staple gun (it is to the movie's endless credit that this scene is actually moving) — that'll change fast. We have a sneaking suspicion that, come December, everyone's going to be talking about this movie. But who wants to wait that long? Here is your guide to the Ten Things You Need to Know About The Wrestler, so you can be ahead of the curve. And don't worry — no spoilers!
1. They get the wrestling right.
The movie isn't really about wrestling (so don't be scared), but it's not like one of those awful baseball movies in which Anthony Perkins pretends to know how to throw a baseball. The movie is populated with real wrestlers, and it makes sure to nail all the little details. As in real life, when someone does a particularly dangerous move, the crowd all yells, "Holy shit! Holy shit!" and "You're so dead! You're so dead!" This will seem strange to non–wrestling fans, but this is really what they do at WWE matches. The hard-core fans will notice, and appreciate.
2. Kurt Cobain is a pussy.
Rourke's Randy "the Ram" Robinson was a star wrestler in the eighties, which means the whole movie is soundtracked by glorious, awesome hair metal, his preferred genre. Haven't heard Accept's "Balls to the Wall" in a long time? You're in luck: The Ram rocks out, HARD. One particularly amusing exchange between the Ram and Marisa Tomei's stripper, Cassidy, features the line, "The eighties fuckin' ruled, man, till that pussy Cobain came and fucked it all up." Expect to hear the soundtrack played ironically at Christmas parties on the Lower East Side.
3. Marisa Tomei is lookin' good.
You know how, in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Marisa Tomei is naked, like, four times? She was clearly preparing for this film, in which she plays a stripper with a heart of talc and is topless and grinding pretty much the whole time. One shot, filmed from her point of view while she's working, will make you never, ever want to enter a strip club again.
4. Nintendo!
The Ram lives alone in a New Jersey trailer and, to pass the time, occasionally invites teenagers to play a wrestling game (as his character) on the ancient, original console, while the condescending teen talks about his PS3. This scene is even more heartbreaking than it sounds.
5. Wrestlers can act.
Anyone who knows anything about professional wrestling knows that it's about as "fake" as a razor blade to the head. (Which we see.) But who knew these guys were so natural on film? Ernest "the Cat" Miller is a former WWF wrestler who, in this movie, plays "the Ayatollah," a faux-Arab wrestler from the eighties. The character now sells used cars and is fat and happy in retirement. Miller has three scenes, two of which involve no wrestling at all, and he's funny, quiet, and dead-on perfect. We had no idea he was a wrestler in real life until we checked IMDb.
6. BRUUUUUUCE.
Expect to see the Boss on Oscar night. Bruce Springsteen's song "The Wrestler," written exclusively for the film, plays over the closing credits, and it's straight from The Ghost of Tom Joad — aching, sad, gorgeous. The song's so good, you almost expect Sean Penn to write another movie based off it, like with The Indian Runner and Bruce's "Highway Patrolman."
7. Don't worry: There are no orgies.
We all know people who were scarred by the artsy intensity of Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream and are too terrified to go see another of his movies. (Others had the same reaction to The Fountain, for different reasons altogether.) Worry not: Aronofsky's in back-to-basics mode, telling a straight story simply and plainly. It's still expertly put together, but, for the first time, Aronofsky moves out of the way and lets the story tell itself. It's a daring decision, actually.
8. God, Nicolas Cage would have been terrible.
When Rourke shows up for the Oscars, imagine, for a moment, what would have happened if Nicolas Cage had taken the role, as was originally planned. One shudders to think of the wig he would have worn for this. It's a career capper for Rourke, and it's virtually impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part.
9. You'll never believe who the movie is dedicated to.
Well, maybe not "dedicated to," but the last line of the credits? "The producers and filmmakers would like to extend their sincerest thanks to Axl Rose."
10. Seriously, you're totally going to cry.
You've been warned.
i would never, in a million years, have known this was an Aronofsky movie if i didn't know it was an Aronofsky movie. i can see the need to reinvent himself after the commercial failure of The Fountain (which i rewatched the day before) but it's sad you can tell he's just not as invested in this film as he was in that one and yet this will bring him acclaim. but, still good for him. the film is good, really good maybe? SPOILERS never have i spent more of a film looking at the back of someone's head END SPOILERS it's built on a mountain of cliche but the acting is great so it almost makes up for it. i spent the whole movie cringing for the characters (physically and emotionally). 5 months of hype from now i wont understand the hype but, good for Aronofsky and Rourke.
also: Rachel Weisz looked at me.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogcdn.com%2Fwww.cinematical.com%2Fmedia%2F2008%2F11%2Fthe-wrestler-one-sheet-%282%29.jpg&hash=b3479c3c841e85ea8f6bb2ea57109b3a988bb07f)
Hmm, I didn't know that it wasn't shot by LaBatique. Might be part of why it doesn't feel like an Aronofsky movie (according to modage).
Trailer here. (http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thewrestler/)
that looked INCREDIBLY spoilerful. my advice is don't watch it.
Quote from: picolas on November 20, 2008, 07:37:06 PM
that looked INCREDIBLY spoilerful wonderful!
can't wait!
That looks so good. I felt like tearing up just watching those little bits. What the fuck heck shit balls titty farts is it about aronofsky? His last two movies turned me into a big pile of sobbing mush and this doesn't look to be any different. (I wouldn't say its too spoilerful, I kinda already know what the story's about).
I didn't know todd barry was in this. That's the big spoiler from the trailer. Comedian Todd Barry is a grocery store manager turned professional wrestler.
Titty farts, pozer. Titty farts.
fuckin' a, squints.. fuckin' a.
That trailer sucked... maybe it's just me and I have a general hate for all trailers alike but this one in particular doesn't give you the true essence of the film. It's just generic sappy moments without the overall tone, style, and progression of the film. Perhaps it's that I liked the film so much and think it deserved better.
There's should be more trailers like the first one we saw for "There Will Be Blood". I think that eventually got labeled down as a teaser but those do a better job, creatively, of encapsulating the film in 30 seconds than these generic and boring visual collages on top of some generic and equally boring song.
I thought it was more of a "The Wrestler in 2 minutes and 30 seconds" than it was a trailer.
I predict he'll have one last hurrah at the end and the crowd and audience will clap in unison for him.
This is the first trailer in a long time that made me cry.
Mickey Rourke And Darren Aronofsky: Party People
Published by Kurt Loder; MTV
NEW YORK — Fox Searchlight Pictures threw the first big movie-biz holiday party of the season on Wednesday night, in the Library of the Hudson Hotel. (It's a "library" with a bar, a billiard table and giant framed cow portraits thick on the walls.) The company had much to be festive about, two of its latest features being the focus of much, as they say, "Oscar buzz."
Director Danny Boyle was on hand to absorb back pats and congratulatory chatter for "Slumdog Millionaire," his quasi-Bollywood love story/adventure movie, which was shot in Mumbai and features, among several other things, one of the year's great soundtracks (by famed Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman). Also in attendance was the film's cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, a madly affable Englishman, who attempted to explain the special camera he'd invented for the picture — a sort of mini-Steadicam rig, it sounded like, amid the din — and expressed his great love of India, a country where he's spent a considerable amount of time. Mumbai, especially, he said, is an extraordinarily crowded place ("You open up a cupboard and a family of fifteen comes tumbling out"), and it's a challenge to shoot in, but he'd go back in a minute. Not right this minute, though. First he has to hook up for a new picture with his longtime colleague, the Danish curmudgeon/director Lars Von Trier.
Dodging passing trays of finger foods on the other side of the room was Darren Aronofsky, whose ferocious new movie, "The Wrestler," won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival two months ago, and has just been nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for Best Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead (the back-to-stay Mickey Rourke). Aronofsky is already mulling his next project, he said - and at some point down the road, he'd like to do a kind of reassembly of his last film, "The Fountain," which has become a sci-fi cult hit on DVD. "It wouldn't be a 'director's cut,'" he said — more like an alternate story told with the addition of unused footage from the first go-round. This would be a complicated project on a couple of levels, though, and it's at least a few years away.
Mickey Rourke himself arrived a little late at the party, having just wrapped another day's shooting on his next picture, "13," an English-language remake of the twisted French Russian-roulette thriller "13 Zameti," in which he's costarring with Jason Statham, Ray Winstone and 50 Cent (a really nice guy, says the Mick).
Peering out from behind a curtain of lightly streaked hair, Rourke appeared to have shed every ounce of the 35-or-so pounds of muscle he'd put on to play the over-the-hill grappler in Aronofsky's movie. Since he's all work-ethic these days, we wondered about the status of "Sin City 2," in which he's supposed to reprise the role of the brutal Marv. The project appears to have been held up by Robert Rodriguez's dispute with the Directors Guild of America. Rodriguez quit the group — a fearless career move for a filmmaker — when it refused to allow him to credit comics auteur Frank Miller as the co-director of the 2005 "Sin City." Once that kerfuffle's cleared up, though, the sequel could get underway pretty quickly. "Frank's ready," said Rourke. "And I'm ready, too."
Chatting With Darren Aronofsky on 'The Wrestler' and So Much More
Some people you wish you had a whole hell of a lot more time with...
BY: Brad Brevet | Ropes of Sillicon
I interviewed Darren Aronofsky for The Fountain back in November 2006 and while he was actually here in Seattle I was not able to meet him so I had to do it over the phone, which was frustrating considering I found The Fountain to be one of the most fascinating films as evidenced by my commentary just over a year ago when Darren had to release his own commentary for the film independently because Warner Bros. didn't include it on the DVD release. So, that's a roundabout way of saying, I didn't get a chance to meet him face-to-face. Well, that has all changed.
In Seattle to promote his extremely impressive film The Wrestler Darren and I had a 15 minute sit down and I can't tell you how flattering it was to hear him recognize the site and my work and have him say, "I know you're site, I've got you bookmarked." Very flattering indeed and a great way to start off an interview session, which bounces around to damn near every single topic I could come up with from The Wrestler to RoboCop and from Wrestlemania to "Grand Theft Auto". We covered the gamut and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did putting it all together.
Enjoy!
This is the first time you've really worked with a script you didn't have a hand in.
Darren Aronofsky (DA): Well actually it was an original idea that I had...
Oh really?
DA: Yeah, when I graduated from film school I made a list of ideas for films — for feature films — and one of them was called The Wrestler and it was just an observation on how no one has ever looked into that world. Then in '02 when The Fountain fell apart the first time I started developing some ideas to figure out what to do next before I went back to The Fountain and that was when I started working with a producer friend, Scott Franklin, and we started to come up with ideas, doing research and going to some of these shows - went to Wrestlemania. Then about two years later we hired Rob Siegel who was the editor of The Onion for seven years and I read a script of his and then we did a lot of drafts with him and he was very open to rewriting and we kept rewriting over and over again until we got it to a place where it was filmable.
So I guess you did have a pretty big hand in the creation of it all then.
DA: I think as a director if you are going to do something you didn't write you still almost have to think about it as a writer because you still have to understand what the material is all about. You have to break it down and figure it out.
I'm sure you would agree this is much different than everything else you have made.
DA: Yeah.
And looking at your upcoming slate — the Noah project, The Fighter, RoboCop — I have to wonder, is this a conscious attempt not to delve into the same kind of genre and perhaps branch out of the cerebral? Because The Wrestler is far more emotional than it is cerebra,l which your other films have been.
DA: I don't know, you just got to keep a lot of balls in the air. It's very hard to make a movie so you try and push as many things as you can forward. Part of the reason it's hard to make a movie is because it's hard to get a good enough script that's worth making. That's the first step, getting a script you believe in, and then it takes a long time to raise the money — at least for me it's always a hard time. The Wrestler took about two years and that was mostly because of Mickey. No one really believed in him and no one thought he could be sympathetic so it was a tough road to get the money to do it.
You really pulled a lot out of him.
DA: It wasn't pulling. Pushed, I pushed it out of him. It was all in there I had to push him.
The scene between him and Evan Rachel Wood is phenomenal. Just seeing a small glimpse of it in the trailer takes you back to the moment. It's really powerful.
DA: Mickey did it. Mickey came prepared. He was up the whole night before working on it. It was very emotional for him because he had to go to a place — he explained to me where he went — and it was a very, very dark place. He had that conversation, but in reverse, with his own dad so he had to go back there, because he's a method actor, and that's what he pulled on and it kind of haunted him and stayed with him for about two/three days afterwards. It was tough on him.
Speaking of Mickey, he talked about the sit down you two had.
DA: Well, it's his version. [laughing]
That's what I was going to ask about. He said you made him feel two inches tall and made it sound like you actually set out to do that...
DA: Well, I was just straight with him. I knew it was going to be a tough road with him because of how films get made in today's world. A studio would never touch this film and so you have to go to the international market and how that works is it is all based on pre-sales for movie stars and the reality is Mickey is worth nothing, and the reality is he may be worth negative amounts of money, at least that is what some people told me. I was like, 'I believe in you, but no one else believes in you and if I am going to do this I want to make sure you are up for it because I am going to put myself through hell so I want to make sure you are going to take the trip with me.'
I was just very straight and maybe I was a little too direct, but why waste fucking time? If he's not going to go, 'Yes, I'm going to do that,' then it's like, 'Okay, then I'm not going to do the film with you in this way. I will figure another way to do it.' I'm pretty brash, but I'm from Brooklyn and I'm just very direct. I'm very direct.
In your industry I wouldn't think there is a lot of time to really pussy-foot around things and I would assume, considering it is your vision, there is hardly room for a lot of compromise.
DA: Right — well... everything's a compromise. Filmmaking is compromising, and so there's always people you answer to, but definitely we had creative freedom on this film. I mean, that's the one thing the French gave us. They visited the set once and they paid for the whole movie. They watched one cut at the end and they said it's fine and that was it. It was great. It was a great partner.
One thing I found particularly interesting is that you never go too far into his back-story. As I was watching and getting wrapped up in the story I started to get emotionally involved with his story, but there is still that lingering thought of what exactly has placed him in his current predicament — ruin his marriage, create the friction with his daughter, etc. — was that ever in the story or was there a back-story in your mind?
DA: Sure, we talk back-story and work that out. That stuff's really not important, it's moment-by-moment watching what this guy's going to do with the challenges in front of him, but then you end up with a three hour long film and it's not about that, it's a character study of a brief moment of this guy's life.
If someone asked you what the film is all about at its core how would you answer?
DA: The film's ultimately about a guy who wants to be loved and he gets all this love from his work and then when he can't do it anymore he tries to get love from these two women [his daughter and a stripper played by Marisa Tomei], but it ends up him asking for a little too much a little too late. He ultimately can only get love from one place and that's what he learns.
I think if you take the word "wrestling" and swap it out with pretty much anything from writing to any sport, to whatever your art is, it kind of — you know — how one deals with their own life and what they consider their art or their work and your real world, that's kind of what the film's about.
Looking forward to the projects you have coming up, what is the situation with the Noah project?
DA: We have a script actually, it is a script but there is more work to do. We're actually going to do a graphic novel of it right now, we're just starting it, and we're hiring a writer.
And are you shopping the script around to studios and actors...?
DA: There is an actor attached, but I'm not going to say who, but he's a big movie star.
Steve Carell... [joking]
DA: [With a smile] Yeah, exactly... Eventually we'll set it up, but we're just figuring it out. It's a very difficult film to get made and we're slowly working on it to get it put together.
A lot of folks in the online world are interested in RoboCop and I can only imagine it is because your name is attached. Because RoboCop is very much an '80s film, but you have been quoted saying it's going to be a "real reinvention". Can you talk about what that means?
DA: It's very early days, there's a writer involved and hopefully it can turn into a script I want to make and the studio wants to make. Once again, it's really hard to talk about until there is a green light. The writer's writing so we'll see what happens. It bums me out how much gets picked up on the Internet and stuff because nothing exists until you are in pre-production and then it doesn't really exist until you're shooting.
So you'd say all these projects are pretty much –
DA: Yeah, what I'm making next... Who knows?
Is Pitt still attached to The Fighter by the way?
DA: He was never even attached. Wahlberg was the only one ever attached. There was some flirtation with Pitt, but it didn't really go anywhere and it just got picked up. The whole thing with Nic Cage on The Wrestler was a tiny little blip and it just got picked up when none of it really ever happened. So we're just trying to get the scripts in the right place and hopefully I can get to work soon.
Some people were picking up on your little blurb in the "New York Times" on how much you like "Grand Theft Auto".
DA: [laughing] Yeah.
Are you a big gamer?
DA: I'm a pretty big gamer. I mean I wish I had more time. I mean, I have a two-and-a-half-year-old kid so I cannot wait until he is gaming! I'm so psyched for my kid to start gaming.
Yeah, you sounded pretty excited just in the little blurb talking about how you wish they had games like that when you were a kid. Now were you a big wrestling fan as well?
DA: Not really. I think like most guys my age it was an eight month window where there was a romance with it. That was it.
I had that in college. It was Thursday night WCW and then The Rock's stint on WWF and I was done.
DA: Yeah, it was fun for a little while, but not really. I made it because no one has seen that world and I think it's an original world and it's such a cultural phenomenon in America that it had to be addressed.
Was it modeled after any one specific wrestler?
DA: There were a lot of people, and the sad thing is they are all very similar. The other night Rowdy Roddy Piper came to a screening and afterward he kind of tearfully broke down in Mickey's arms and was like — it wasn't his story, yet his story was finally being told. It just meant a lot so I can't wait to show it to the legends.
I was going to say, after I got out of the screening a friend of mine and I were talking about the wrestlers we remembered and we both had a different one of the windows you were talking about and brought up different names. Is that the only legend that has seen it so far?
DA: Piper is the only one that's seen it, at least that is famous, of the legends. We're trying to get a bunch of them –
A legends screening would be insane.
DA: That's what I am trying to do. I am trying to get Fox — write about it on RopeofSilicon that we're trying to put it together because it will add to the hype, but I'm trying to get it. There's a premiere in L.A. on December 16 and I'm trying to get them to fly in like ten guys from the legends to get them to see it. So it would be great to get them there.
This interview doesn't start off too well.
Quote from: MacGuffin on December 11, 2008, 06:07:14 PM
This is the first time you've really worked with a script you didn't have a hand in.
Darren Aronofsky (DA): Well actually it was an original idea that I had...
Oh really?
lulz.
Remember when a couple of you traveled out to the Billy Wilder for the Lynch/Inland Empire thing, that I got into, and I was callous about how you didn't get in? Well you were vindicated by fate, because I went to the Billy Wilder and waited two hours for the screening/appearances for this film and didn't get in.
Sucked. We were 95, 96 in line for a movie in a theater of 280 seats. Good, right? Except 200 members with priority seating showed up in the last 30 minutes before the screening and swooped up all the seats.
I saw Wendy and Lucy instead.
From metal to ambience: Clint Mansell taps Slash for 'The Wrestler'
Source: Los Angeles Times
At midpoint in "The Wrestler," Marisa Tomei's Cassidy sums up the general feeling the film's characters have toward pop music. Enjoying an afternoon beer at a dive bar with some metal on the jukebox, she dismisses everything released from 1991 to the present with a swipe at Nirvana's Kurt Cobain: "And then that Cobain ... had to come and ruin it all."
One can only wonder how she'd rate the delicate atmospheric score from Clint Mansell. In a film loaded with '80s metal -- Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" are prominently featured -- Mansell is the one who has to bring everyone back to the film's stark reality.
But one thing is probably certain. Tomei's Cassidy and Mickey Rourke's fading wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson couldn't fault Mansell's choice of a guitarist: former Guns N' Roses slinger Slash.
"We just thought it would be interesting, given that the character's favorite music is rock -- metal -- music," Mansell tells Pop & Hiss. "We wanted that sensibility and wanted to bridge the gap between score and source. Slash is one of the world's great guitar players, and he was up for trying something different than what he's known for, but he could also bring his sensibility to what I was trying to do."
Mansell's score fills in the blanks between the film's vintage metal and the original Bruce Springsteen track that brings "The Wrestler" to a close. With minimal guitar notes, the score flirts with a melody, but instead drifts toward more dreamy, atmospheric sounds. But the music doesn't lead the viewer, as the slight guitar pickings veer more toward something resembling a lullaby than anything overly emotional.
"We knew there was no way we could judge the character," Mansell says. "He sleeps in the back of a van after a wrestling match, and that might be a really horrendous way of living for some of us. But for him, he's just doing what he wants to do. So we didn't want to make the music maudlin or schmaltzy or anything that judges the character."
Oddly enough, some of the music that inspired Mansell was by Springsteen, who composed the Golden Globe-nominated song in the film's namesake -- a cut that contrasts a plaintive melody with some street-tough imagery. Before the Springsteen song had been secured, Mansell had been trying to capture the stark, paired-down feel of the artist's 1982 album "Nebraska."
"I had talked to Darren [Aronofsky] about Springsteen's 'Nebraska' album," Mansell says referring to the film's director. "It's an emotional record, but it's quite restrained -- it keeps the emotion at a distance. I thought that this was the character that Randy Robinson was. That led me towards the guitar."
The fact that the film is set in New Jersey didn't hurt either. Mansell wanted an instrument that could reflect the grittiness of the setting and the character, even if the ultimate sound was soft. "He loves his metal music, and he lives in New Jersey, and all those things started pushing me toward the fact that the guitar might be the instrument that represents this character's voice."
Mansell is the go-to composer Aronofsky. The two first worked together on Aronofsky's first feature-length film, "Pi." Typically, Mansell and Aronofsky begin plotting the music before shooting begins. In the case of "The Wrestler," the idea of using a simple guitar score wasn't easily arrived at.
"We started thinking about what Darren called clown music, which was essentially New Orleans funeral dirges," Mansell says. "That led to an idea of a sort of ragtag of instruments that were broken down, like a wheezy accordion. Those felt too stylized for the location and the story. It felt like we were just being clever. So that's when we started stripping things back."
Mansell, a former lead of English band Pop Will Eat Itself, is currently scoring "The Rebound," a romantic comedy starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
A director falls in love with acting
Darren Aronofsky was Mr. Visual Effects. But with 'The Wrestler,' he has given the screen to the actors.
By Mark Olsen; Los Angeles Times
Much has already been made of "The Wrestler" as a comeback vehicle for its star, actor Mickey Rourke. But for director Darren Aronofsky, the film also represents a form of creative rebirth.
Having first come to the attention of audiences with his visually audacious films -- 1998's "Pi" and 2000's "Requiem for a Dream" -- Aronofsky seemed poised for a broader crossover with 2006's "The Fountain," an ambitious time-travel story about love and loss.
"The Fountain" had an infamously long and tortured production history -- including an abrupt shutdown, a change in its lead actor (Hugh Jackman replaced Brad Pitt) and a drastic reduction in financing -- which could easily have stopped Aronofsky's career in its tracks.
According to Aronofsky, "The Wrestler" symbolizes a break from his past and a new start. "My producer and I broke up as a team, and [for 'The Wrestler'] I used a different director of photography, new production designer, editor, and so it became a new chapter in my filmmaking life," explained the 39-year-old director. "I just really wanted to do something different."
"The Wrestler" follows Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke), an aging wrestler who once filled arenas and now scrapes it out in local gymnasiums and small-time shows. Following a heart attack, he tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and romantically pursues a friendly stripper (Marisa Tomei), but finds himself draw back into the ring.
Aronofsky recalled with astonishment the whirlwind weekend that introduced "The Wrestler" to the world. Just days before its premiere last September at the Venice Film Festival, Aronofsky was finishing the film. Then it screened for the first time on a Friday night. Festival organizers told him to stick around for the awards ceremony the next night. The film picked up the main prize, the Golden Lion. Sunday morning, he boarded a plane for the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film screened to a rapturous audience that evening. The film was sold to distributor Fox Searchlight Pictures after an all-night negotiating session.
Since then, the narrative of Rourke's comeback has taken a powerful hold of the media and has been building steam with the public. The actor has been doing a lot of interviews , telling his personal story with a bracing earnestness. Aronofsky has had to accept that Rourke may exaggerate aspects of their working relationship -- "Mickey's a storyteller, if you haven't figured that out," he said -- but the director also believes that "the ends justify the means" for all it took to get the performance from Rourke.
"I think the reality about Mickey is, he's so talented, he can coast through a film and actually be pretty good, and he's done that way too much," said Aronofsky. "I just had to push him every day. I had to, honestly, get him out of bed and fight to keep him on set to do the work. But . . . there was no one more natural and more giving. Just getting him to the starting line was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done in my career."
Aronofsky refers to the process of working with Rourke as both a "battle" and a "collaboration." He explained how, despite an initial hesitation, he allowed Rourke to have his character wear hearing aids, but noted with pride how he thwarted Rourke from indulging in perhaps his most notorious on-screen trademark.
"If there's any accomplishment that's my greatest accomplishment in this movie," he said, "it's the fact he never wears sunglasses in this film. I fought him every day about the sunglasses, because he wants to hide. I guarantee you, there aren't many movies where he doesn't wear sunglasses.
"One thing Mickey does, he tries to protect himself from people looking into his eyes. You look into his eyes and he's an open wound, there's so much pain, there's so much struggle, so much wisdom, love and soul, but he hides it."
Aronofsky is married to the actress Rachel Weisz, who appeared in "The Fountain," and he credits her in part with the impulse to make a film minus the visual filigrees of his earlier work, focusing instead on the performances. Leaving behind his earlier emphasis on visual effects, Aronofsky creates the world of "The Wrestler" with a spare, pared-down style of hard-bitten, hand-held realism he calls "pro-active documentary."
"Living with an actor," he said, "watching her really work on her craft, has been inspiring. And I realized I love working with actors, and as a director, the only time you get to be in the moment, really connected with the art, is between 'Action' and 'Cut,' when you're watching these other people and you're sort of surfing along with them. You're just feeling, trying to be really present. Yet most of the time as a director, you're worrying about the future, regretting the past, and you rarely get that type of expression.
"So when I was finishing up 'The Fountain,' all I wanted to do was work with actors. I kept telling my agent, 'I've got to get an actor's piece; find me a play or something.' I think when I first went to Mickey and Marisa, that's kind of what I pitched them; this is their film."
PODCAST: Darren Aronofsky to screen 'The Wrestler' for Vince McMahon
Source: Los Angeles Times
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to chat with "The Wrestler" director Darren Aronofsky, the 39-year-old Harvard grad who has acquired something of a cult following since making his directorial debut a decade ago.
Aronofsky broke a little news at one point, reporting that he would be in Connecticut today to host a private screening of "The Wrestler" for Vince McMahon, who is the controversial chairman of the former World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) and is in many ways the most enduring face of the sport.
It will be interesting to learn whether McMahon, whose personal finances are directly linked to the public's feelings about wrestling, received it as graciously as many of the former professional wrestlers who have already seen it at various screenings that. One, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, became emotional as he told the filmmakers, "It's not my story... but it is my story."
"Wrestler" stars Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei are generating plenty of Oscar buzz. And even if Aronofsky, the rather low-profile man who made it all possible, is not at the center of much awards chatter himself, he seemed quite content during our conversation — which you can hear for yourself by clicking HERE (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/files/files/darren_aronofsky_interview_lat_podcast.mp3) — just to be able to tell a good story and help an actor whom he has long admired get back on his feet to fight another day.
Aronofsky first broke onto the scene with "Pi" (1998), an intriguing sci-fi thriller, which was followed shortly thereafter by "Requiem for a Dream" (2000), a gritty drama about drug abuse that earned star Ellen Burstyn an Oscar nomination for best actress. When his passion project, "The Fountain" (2006), bombed, some wondered if he might have been knocked down and out altogether. As it turns out, it took him only two years to get back up, and his latest effort might be his best yet.
"The Wrestler," which follows a past-his-prime professional wrestler who is forced to finally confront self-inflicted ailments of the body and soul, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September, took critics and festivalgoers by surprise and was awarded its Golden Lion Award for best picture. It was quickly picked up by distributor Fox Searchlight, put on the festival and award circuit, and finally opened nationwide on Wednesday.
This is the first movie that made me emotional in two years. I've never been a fan of wrestling but this movie moved my soul. Some scenes were extremely hard to watch and I found quite sleazy and overdone...but this is the best performance by an actor this year. I hope Mickey Rourke gets at least a nomination.
Danny Boyle interviewing Aronofsky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ERV0LI0oVk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViEUPrs9Duw
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1125869268/bctid5214319001
so, you know how kal is over in the slumdog millionaire thread being like, it doesn't matter how cliched a story is as long as it's told well and blah blah blah whatever? well this movie is a big ball of cliche and melodrama. i've seen it a thousand times before. difference between this and slumdog is that this film is INCREDIBLY moving, the characters are so well-defined and likable, the acting is top notch, everything just feels so right in this film. whereas whenever i was watching the melodrama in slumdog i felt like i was watching some (albeit higher ranking) made-for-tv movie, some sort of a hyperreality that exists only in the land of melodrama, in the wrestler, the melodrama never felt overly done and it always felt like it was grounded in some sort of reality. the performances and direction were so naturalistic that i was never taken out of the film. i was always fully engrossed.
with characters in a movie like this, it's so easy for a director or writer to use the material in a way that talks down to them, that makes the audience in the film superior to the characters being portrayed. the film tries to avoid stooping to this level. when you hear the lines from the trailer with rourke's character calling kurt cobain a pussy and the reason for music becoming less fun, sure you laugh, but you're laughing WITH him. he really believes what he's saying, so you really believe what he's saying. there's no pandering here because by that point in the film, you know what this guy is all about.
SPOILER:
there is only one point, early on in the film, where marisa tomei quotes the passion of the christ that feels undeserved, like a sopranos type thing making her seem kind of stupid. on it's own, it's a funny moment, but in context, it's the only part of the movie that felt cheap to me, and then only after exiting the theater and thinking about the film as a whole. a slight misstep in an otherwise perfect film.
i feel the same way about aronofsky as i do paul thomas anderson. with every film they make, they get more and more mature. more assured of themselves to let their films speak for themselves instead of infusing them with flashy gimmickry (which, granted, is why we fell in love with them in the first place i guess). i was very pleased with this movie and hope all of you go see it once it opens wide(r).
this movie made me remember why i worshipped aronofsky and my faith in him is totally restored. it's hard to write about this right now.. it's so big. it's a simple story, yes. but there are so many sub-themes and stories hiding inside it, too.. i can't go beyond just summarizing my favourite things about it today. just know that this is an astoundingly amazing movie.
spoils!
re: bonz/passion of the c. i saw that moment not so much as stupifying tomei's character but showing the perspective of someone who exploits their body for money talking to another person who does the same.. she sees the movie as basically another form of body-as-entertainment/spectacle etc and wants to share it with him..
This was excellent. It just felt very genuine. It's intentions were true/pure and it wasn't trying to do anything else but get you to care for the characters.
Spoils...
The Ram's heart was in the right place, but his head wasn't. He was just a disappointing human being. The relationship he wanted with his daughter was something his heart wanted, but his head prevented. He had nobody else to blame for his fuck-ups but himself, and that was something I found refreshing. Usually in movies there is an outside reason for why someone is going through the troubles they are, be it a handicap, the doing of someone or something else, etc, but in this film, Randy's problems were because of HIMSELF. He was a fuck up and a failure because of his own doing. Aronofsky/Siegel and especially Rourke really did something fantastic in making a character that does things that normally make you mad at them, or fill you with hatred for them, but you're not because of how likeable the character ultimately is. When Randy starts downing shots and snorting lines and ends up missing his dinner date with his daughter, you hate him for it. You're disgusted in him, but as the audience, you give him another chance because you know his intentions are pure and nobody is more disappointed in him than he is in himself.
8.9/10
This is Aronofsky's most assured film to date. His films have always excelled on a technical level and, with every film, he's become emotionally closer to his characters. This is the best balance of substance and style he's achieved yet because it's so fucking intimate. The way the camera follows Rourke, right behind him peering over his back - it's more impressive than any device or trickery - camera, editing, or otherwise - he's ever used thus far.
I can only echo the praises everyone else has had in regards to the way the story is treated. The details are so real and emphatic without the slightest hint of pandering. Plus, it's such a treat to watch Rourke for nearly two hours and see him deliver such a beautiful performance. The guy has always been such a treat to watch in anything and it feels like all of it has lead up to this part. Every wrinkle on his face, every bruise he's ever gotten, all add up to something genuine. In publicity for Redbelt, Mamet liked to speak about how a fighter's face conveys more truth and a deeper story than most actor's, or other professions, could ever attempt. Rourke is the embodiment of that theory.
i'll just say i agree a million % with john, pickles, taz, and stefen. this shook me to the bone. darren's best stuff to date.
also, awesomest title sequence of the year for sure.
Saw this tonight, thought it was pretty great. I had a few complaints about the performance by Evan Rachel Wood (or maybe just the way some of those scenes played out) but otherwise I was totally sold on the whole thing. Was surprised by how low-key the direction was, as well as the story. Just a simple mortality tale told very well. I really liked the way it ended right at the emotional high point
Quote from: New Feeling on January 18, 2009, 11:36:06 PM
Saw this tonight, thought it was pretty great. I had a few complaints about the performance by Evan Rachel Wood (or maybe just the way some of those scenes played out) but otherwise I was totally sold on the whole thing. Was surprised by how low-key the direction was, as well as the story. Just a simple mortality tale told very well. I really liked the way it ended right at the emotional high point
Just saw it today as well and pretty much agree with that statement.
Best performance of the year by Rourke so he totally deserves the praise he is getting, and I cannot think of anybody else playing the role. I'm also not sure if I can picture him playing any other role.
You that saying, "I can't picture anyone else playing that part?" Never were a statement truer than with Mickey Rourke and Randy "The Ram." He is this role. And with the scaled down production, from the grainy look, to the handheld, that simplicity completely felt like I was watching a documentary on this character's life and I was so completely taken by every beating he took, in the ring and out. It was a fascinating character study.
The academy never ceases to befuddle me. How could something as tepid and formulaic as Benjamin Button get a best picture nom and something as honest and heart wrenching as this get snubbed?
Nevermind. Old and pointless question.
What struck me about this film was the suspense. Not a conventional, thriller type but the suspense created by the fact that Randy always seems on the verge of being seriously injured.
Yeah, it's obviously an actors film but to ignore the other aspects that make it so engaging would be the kind of mistake only the academy would make.
Aronofsky handled this material brilliantly. i think my favorite example of what bonanzataz said about maturity is the camera following Randy throughout. he could've chopped it up or even went w/his attach the camera to the actor trademark gimmick. instead he simply followed him and kept following him.
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on January 14, 2009, 12:02:58 AM
It's a really good film.
Saw this loved it Academy fucked Boyle dumb.
I purchased a ticket at the theater to view this movie. This movie was very good, and I was impressed with the filmmaking quality. The Academy of Arts & Sciences engaged in intercourse. The film director, Danny Boyle, is unintelligent.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstartswithabang.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F05%2Fthe_evolution_of_man.jpg&hash=7b37946ae8d2b9db98b6a49351e8fe120f1309d0)
Brevity pointless.
thread over.
:bravo:
Quote
Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke has signed to wrestle WWE superstar in Houston
Several years ago, Will Smith starred as legendary boxer Muhammad Ali in a movie.
It was a movie. Play acting. Pretend.
Smith didn't actually get into a ring and box 12 rounds with Mike Tyson for real.
Now Mickey Rourke is winning awards for his role as professional wrestler Randy the Ram in the acclaimed movie The Wrestler.
That's the difference between boxing and pro wrestling.
Rourke has signed to wrestle WWE superstar Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 25 in Reliant Stadium on April 5. For real, or as real as pro wrestling can be.
Rourke made the surprise announcement Sunday night on the red carpet before the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. He told Access Hollywood that he was pleased by the acceptance of The Wrestler by all the WWE wrestlers — except Jericho.
"So come Wrestlemania 25 in Houston, I'm going to toss him around the ring like tossed salad. Chris Jericho, you better get in shape," Rourke promised, or threatened, or whatever you call it when wrestlers don't particularly care for each other.
Jericho, appearing on WWE television, said, "You are out of line. It's one thing to play a wrestler in a movie, something entirely different to actually be one. Your comments offended me. You made a mistake. It's the last thing that you and Ric Flair want to do, and that's offend Chris Jericho.""
In a related development, tickets for Wrestlemania 25 at Reliant Stadium are for sale at www.ticketmaster.com.
By the way, what does Ric Flair have to do with any of this?
According to Jericho, it was wrestling legend Flair who talked Rourke into thinking he could actually be a wrestler.
Rourke admits that Flair is "teaching me some tricks."
The only thing Flair will admit to is, "Let's just say, I will be at Wrestlemania, and that's all I'm saying."
In wrestling talk, that means, "I am training Rourke, Chris Jericho is in a heap of trouble and whatever other rumors you're hearing, they're all true."
If this is true, I will shit myself. The best thing about The Wrestler was how it wasn't really about a corny, rednecky WWE wrestler. It was about a human being going through the motions of a life that may have passed him by. This is fucking stupid if true.
Of course it is.
As much attention as Rourke is getting now, we all know his career will be over again as soon as the day after the Oscars. He may get a few roles here and there, but he will have to get into stupid shit like that if he wants to make some mula.
Mickey Rourke won't rumble with WWE superstar
HOUSTON – A spokeswoman for actor Mickey Rourke says he won't be taking his role as a professional wrestler into a real-life ring after all.
Paula Woods told The Associated Press on Wednesday night that Rourke will not wrestle WWE superstar Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 25 in April at Houston's Reliant Stadium.
Woods wrote in an e-mail that the Oscar-nominated actor "will not be participating in Wrestlemania. He is focusing entirely on his acting career."
Rourke portrays professional wrestler Randy the Ram in the acclaimed movie "The Wrestler." He made a surprise announcement about the wrestling event Sunday night on the red carpet before the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.
Rourke had said he was going to toss Jericho "around the ring like tossed salad."
haha, his publicist probably told him, "Are you fucking nuts? You're on the verge of winning an Oscar! Snap outta it!"
If Rourke was serious, or if he was just feeding the industrial gossip complex to help his Oscar hype, neither would surprise me. Though he did a four year run as a professional boxer (albeit a pretty bad one).
Quote from: Stefen on January 29, 2009, 07:27:19 AM
haha, his publicist probably told him, "Are you fucking nuts Eddie Murphy? You're on the verge of winning an Oscar! Snap outta it!"
haha, yeah, I was thinking of Norbit. Or when Burt Reynolds started talking shit about Hollywood right after Boogie Nights.
it was great. all the little moments had so much warmth in there too. I also just kinda like scripts that leave things hanging. I remember an ang lee interview when he talked about he liked to poke a few holes in hollywood scripts before directing otherwise it'll be like directing an unsinkable battleship and what's the fun in that. this movie was like that, it purposedly let things go unresolved because sometimes that's way more powerful. this and the new rocky (and obviously dozens of other comeback sports films)had some similarities ｂｕｔ ｈｏｗ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ ｗｅｎｔ ａｂｏｕｔ ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｓｏ ｃｈｉｌｌ．
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og3tN7P6oKI
Independant Spirit Award speech by Mickey Rourke...GENIUS stuff
Anyway this is easily the best movie of the year for movie and I'll campaign the shit out of it for the xixaxies
Iran angered over films 'The Wrestler' and '300'
TEHRAN, Iran – An adviser to Iran's president has demanded an apology from a team of visiting Hollywood actors and movie industry officials, including Annette Bening, saying films such as "300" and "The Wrestler" were "insulting" to Iranians.
Without an apology, members of Iran's film industry should refuse to meet with representatives from the nine-member team, said Javad Shamaqdari, the art and cinema adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"In my viewpoint, it is a failure to have an official meeting with one who is insulting," Shamaqdari told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The film "300," portrays the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days. It angered many Iranians for the way Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks.
Iranians also criticized "The Wrestler" starring Mickey Rourke as a rundown professional wrestler who is preparing for a rematch with his old nemesis, "The Ayatollah." During a fight scene, "The Ayatollah" tries to choke Rourke with an Iranian flag before Rourke pulls the flagpole away, breaks it and throws it into the cheering crowd.
Neither movie was shown in Iran.
While American actors such as Sean Penn have traveled to Iran, it is rare for such a large group to visit. In February, Iran denied visas to a U.S. women's badminton team that had been invited to compete in a tournament in Iran.
The group includes the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sid Ganis; actors Bening, and Alfre Woodard; producer William Horberg; AMPAS Special Events Programmer and Exhibitions Curator Ellen Harrington; and Tom Pollock, the former Universal Pictures chairman.
According to the Web site of Iran's Cinema Association, the group arrived Friday in Iran. They met a group of Iranian artists on Saturday, and will be holding educational seminars in directing, screenwriting, acting, producing, marketing and film distribution.
Shamaqdari says Iranians will warmly host the visiting Americans "but it will not stop Iranians from demanding an apology."
The visits come as President Barack Obama has indicated a new willingness to open up relations with Iran.
Relations between the two countries have been strained over concerns in the West that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapons program, something Tehran denies. The U.S. has also alleged that overwhelmingly Shiite Iran supports Shiite militias in Iraq, which Iran says is not true.
The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage-taking at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
mac does your signature/jokers line apply to these iranians, or what?
calm it. fucking publicity.
20th Century Fox has just announced the DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler on 4/21. Single-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray editions will be available (SRP $29.98 and $39.99). The single-disc DVD will include the Within the Ring featurette and Bruce Springsteen's The Wrestler music video. To this, the Blu-ray will add the Wrestler Round Table featurette and a Digital Copy version of the film on the second disc.
Already pre-ordered.
Quote from: SiliasRuby on March 06, 2009, 04:52:32 AM
Already pre-ordered.
Quote from: SiliasRuby on March 04, 2009, 11:39:10 PMI have it pre-ordered on blu-ray for criterion...its coming in may.
Quote from: SiliasRuby on March 03, 2009, 12:08:33 AMI did preorder it on blu-ray...the film that is...
Quote from: SiliasRuby on February 21, 2009, 05:11:14 PMDVD and Blu-ray coming out in July. Already preordered mine.
ever just order-order for shits & gigs?
Quote from: Pozer on March 06, 2009, 06:53:40 PM
Quote from: SiliasRuby on March 06, 2009, 04:52:32 AM
Already pre-ordered.
Quote from: SiliasRuby on March 04, 2009, 11:39:10 PMI have it pre-ordered on blu-ray for criterion...its coming in may.
Quote from: SiliasRuby on March 03, 2009, 12:08:33 AMI did preorder it on blu-ray...the film that is...
Quote from: SiliasRuby on February 21, 2009, 05:11:14 PMDVD and Blu-ray coming out in July. Already preordered mine.
ever just order-order for shits & gigs?
Yes, but it isn't as fun.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedigitalbits.com%2Farticles%2Fmiscgfx%2Fcovers5%2Fwrestlerdvd.jpg&hash=3a9cf0a6aff5bcc23da81a62aada10ee5dd9ba28)
hahaha... oohh, i don't know...
Hey, someone who hasn't seen it, judge it by the cover and tell me what you think it's about...
Quote from: 72teeth on March 10, 2009, 08:49:38 PM
hahaha... oohh, i don't know...
Hey, someone who hasn't seen it, judge it by the cover and tell me what you think it's about...
Curt Hennig aka "Mr. Perfect" Bio-pic finally hits shelves...
I thought this was pretty disappointing. The first half of the film sets up the drama with a narrative track that is supposed to be a record of the Ram's life and a behind the scenes look at professional wrestling. This isn't the televised version, but the everyday wrestling from town to town where elementary schools and beer halls are sold out before arenas. People have their conceptions about the WWE, but the day the core of living in The Wrestler is how most wrestlers begin and end their careers. It's all pretty desperate, but they live for the work.
I enjoyed the first half for the most part. I have followed professional wrestling all of my life so I liked all the small details that they got accurate. I even enjoyed recognizing a lot of wrestlers in the film that I haven't seen in years. Most of them were former professionals who had brief stints in either WWF or WCW and I have seen myself on smaller circuits. Yes, I've been to my share of these shows. They're fun but they always represent the opposite of luxury, but no one ever minded. The film got all the small things right and even started to develop Rourke well as a character. The best colorization for him started when he had to transition from a wrestler to a deli worker. The scene where he first starts in the deli and progressively makes the job his own is very good. It underscores a lot about who he is. Professional wrestlers are people who live behind persona's, but they still get a weird enjoyment out of performing. Continuing with the job is just accepting change of time and deterioration of the body but still rolling with the punches. As a life to screen look, all of it was developed well.
Another element of the first half I liked was the self consciousness of the drama as sad comedy. In the first scene between Tomei and Rouke where she is giving him a lap dance, she prophesies about the meaning of his life by referencing the Passion of the Christ. She is sincere with her reference and he takes it to heart, but it perfectly casts the meaning that these people see in a job that could look ridiculous to everyone else. The film highlighted that unexpected moment of tenderness between a stripper and a wrestler, but it could have been said between two wrestlers. They could have talked about a storyline that seemed ridiculous and spoken of it in terms of luxury that only they can believe and truly understand. The film used another character to make a more identifiable reference so the audience could understand the belief that these characters have in things that inherently make some of us snicker, but bring them to tears and reflection.
Then the film outstretches its story to a venerable drama and problems arise. The purpose is to make drama out of this sad situation with characters and events, but the film starts to implore too many artificial techniques and storylines. First the storyline simplifies Rourke's character (and others) to a dramatic situation of a bunch of what ifs involving life or death. The heart attack wasn't an initial problem in the story because it wasn't heavily doted upon, but it became an unnecessary arc to the final act of the story with everything in Rourke's life depending on him making good on a few choice situations. Originally I accepted these plot instances because the simple nature of the story meant that the resolution had to be simple, but I was totally taken out of the film with Tomei's dramatic dash to convince Rouke to not fight. It felt so hammed and made me think that all the good small moments of nuance in the first half of the film were just set up to this bad and trite dramatic situation.
Professional wrestlers age and are reduced to sad situations, but I've never heard of a dramatic angle in their true fall from grace being as goofy as the one in this film. The equivalent of this story is the bad plot in 24 recently where Keifer Sutherland's character used torture to break a suspected terrorist and get him to admit to a bomb that was about to blow up any minute. The point was to excuse torture. Theoretically the situations in 24 and The Wrestler are possible, but they never happen. I may have stomped on someones real situation with previously said criticism, but as far as I know, they don't. Wrestlers die all the time, but it's never in this fashion. What happens is that the nature of the business reduces them until they have nothing and their nature as an entertainer changes them into something else. When Rouke flips out at the end in the Deli, that was a possible changing moment of his nature. He rejected a chance to entertain a possible fan and reduced himself to the worst possibilities of his anger, but it was just a moment of regret and then another with deciding to wrestle later on.
Like I said, that could possibly happen, but it usually never does. What really happens is that the wrestlers just change and wither away from their old self. The drugs and abuse change them and their end is muddled in a lot of small details that are confusing and nuanced, but the main fact is that they eventually become different people. The end in this film is the tragedy of a few mistakes, but it doesn't get to the heart of what a wrestler's unfortunate end usually looks like. It makes his end more graceful and tragic. I disliked it because all the small moments at the beginning of the film begged for an ending of similar nuance, but every situation is wiped clean in one fell swoop.
I really liked Slumdog Millionaire and defended the cliches. I still do but I don't defend the cliches here. Slumdog Millionaire had an immediate tone to its story that made everything that happened believable, but The Wrestler only took its tone to heart for 3/4 for the story. Then it believed that full resolution of the characters was more important than anything so looked for the first story exit to get that. Very dis sappointing.
spoils
he wasn't rejecting the chance to please a fan in the deli. he was embracing his wrestling persona. he couldn't bear to have a fan see him as a regular deli worker so he masked it with this crazy, ill-conceived rant. he only does it because he gets caught. the ram working in a deli. this is the thinking that makes up his fatal flaw. the need to uphold the glory of 'the ram'.
your criticism is 'this doesn't happen'?? so what? it happened in the movie and i believed it. if you can't literally believe it there are so many other, wonderful metaphorical implications to take away from it... he's a time-traveler, wandering through the present. stuck in the 80s. when he finally loses the ability to sustain his old self, he has nothing left in the present despite his best, last-minute efforts, and can only bring 'the ram' back, the only thing that makes sense to him, even if it means death. essentially it's about how lack of change or a refusal to change can kill even the nicest, most vibrant people. and other things of course. but don't reject it just because it creates a situation that doesn't typically happen in the real world. that. is pure baloney. yeah, i went there.
Quote from: picolas on March 22, 2009, 06:55:57 PM
spoils
he wasn't rejecting the chance to please a fan in the deli. he was embracing his wrestling persona. he couldn't bear to have a fan see him as a regular deli worker so he masked it with this crazy, ill-conceived rant. he only does it because he gets caught. the ram working in a deli. this is the thinking that makes up his fatal flaw. the need to uphold the glory of 'the ram'.
Earlier in the film he would have probably been happy to be recognized and gratified as the Ram in the deli. It's not like he was trying to take on a different persona to hide his wrestling self. There was no somber tone to his new job. He was as playful with customers as his wrestling character so he was looking for recognition and gratification in all the ways he would as a wrestler.
Quote from: picolas on March 22, 2009, 06:55:57 PM
your criticism is 'this doesn't happen'?? so what? it happened in the movie and i believed it. if you can't literally believe it there are so many other, wonderful metaphorical implications to take away from it... he's a time-traveler, wandering through the present. stuck in the 80s. when he finally loses the ability to sustain his old self, he has nothing left in the present despite his best, last-minute efforts, and can only bring 'the ram' back, the only thing that makes sense to him, even if it means death. essentially it's about how lack of change or a refusal to change can kill even the nicest, most vibrant people. and other things of course. but don't reject it just because it creates a situation that doesn't typically happen in the real world. that. is pure baloney. yeah, i went there.
Films are subjective and yes, this worked for you. What you described is the working thought to everything that happened, but to make a low key film build up to such a blatantely
dramatic (and I mean that in the negative sense here) moment, just does a disservice to the rest of the film. Most of my review of the Wrestler is positive, but an ending can derail my overall feelings and that happened here.
But I refuse to just check my gut on whether a movie worked. The ending was total formula and contrary to the rest of the film. And yes, "doesn't happen" is a valid criticism film here. The credibility of the entire film is that it banks on the experience of professional wrestlers. The whole narrative of the first half of the film is docu-drama to what they go through so it is important to have an ending that speaks to their experience. It doesn't need to speak to the exact experience of a real dead wrestler, but it needs to compliment their end in better ways. I don't buy that a good rationalization can make a generic ending feel authentic when it just reminds me of other bad stories. Besides, lots of people that like the film admit that the story enters cliche toward the end. Should we just buy it hook, line and sinker?
spoilies.....
Quote from: Gold Trumpet on March 22, 2009, 07:57:25 PMBut I refuse to just check my gut on whether a movie worked. The ending was total formula and contrary to the rest of the film. And yes, "doesn't happen" is a valid criticism film here. The credibility of the entire film is that it banks on the experience of professional wrestlers. The whole narrative of the first half of the film is docu-drama to what they go through so it is important to have an ending that speaks to their experience. It doesn't need to speak to the exact experience of a real dead wrestler, but it needs to compliment their end in better ways. I don't buy that a good rationalization can make a generic ending feel authentic when it just reminds me of other bad stories. Besides, lots of people that like the film admit that the story enters cliche toward the end. Should we just buy it hook, line and sinker?
Are you on meth? The ending is not cliche. In fact, it takes active steps to circumvent cliche. He. Fucking. Dies. (Yes I know the ending is somewhat ambiguous but I think it's pretty clear that regardless of whether he dies at that moment or several weeks or even months later, his fate is to die doing the thing he was born to do). Nevermind the fact that he and Marisa Tomei's character
don't end up living happily ever after, nor does he reunite with his daughter.
Here's a cliche ending: after a much-prolonged, gut-busting battle, the Ram looks up in the stands and sees Maria Tomei's character mouth "I believe in you" and then delivers one last, devastating blow, knocking out his opponent and triumphantly winning the match. Marisa then jumps into the ring - and what the hell, so does his daughter out of nowhere - and they share a 3-way hug while a melodramatic John Williams score circa 1980s Spielberg swells on the soundtrack.
The only thing in my book that could be argued cliche is the whole stripper with a heart of gold in a low-budge film bit, and even that's a non-issue b/c her character is a dynamic and multi-dimensional one, not to mention the obvious wrester/stripper as performers parallel.
Quote from: ©brad on March 22, 2009, 09:22:13 PM
spoilies.....
Quote from: Gold Trumpet on March 22, 2009, 07:57:25 PMBut I refuse to just check my gut on whether a movie worked. The ending was total formula and contrary to the rest of the film. And yes, "doesn't happen" is a valid criticism film here. The credibility of the entire film is that it banks on the experience of professional wrestlers. The whole narrative of the first half of the film is docu-drama to what they go through so it is important to have an ending that speaks to their experience. It doesn't need to speak to the exact experience of a real dead wrestler, but it needs to compliment their end in better ways. I don't buy that a good rationalization can make a generic ending feel authentic when it just reminds me of other bad stories. Besides, lots of people that like the film admit that the story enters cliche toward the end. Should we just buy it hook, line and sinker?
Are you on meth? The ending is not cliche. In fact, it takes active steps to circumvent cliche. He. Fucking. Dies. (Yes I know the ending is somewhat ambiguous but I think it's pretty clear that regardless of whether he dies at that moment or several weeks or even months later, his fate is to die doing the thing he was born to do). Nevermind the fact that he and Marisa Tomei's character don't end up living happily ever after, nor does he reunite with his daughter.
Here's a cliche ending: after a much-prolonged, gut-busting battle, the Ram looks up in the stands and sees Maria Tomei's character mouth "I believe in you" and then delivers one last, devastating blow, knocking out his opponent and triumphantly winning the match. Marisa then jumps into the ring - and what the hell, so does his daughter out of nowhere - and they share a 3-way hug while a melodramatic John Williams score circa 1980s Spielberg swells on the soundtrack.
The only thing in my book that could be argued cliche is the whole stripper with a heart of gold in a low-budge film bit, and even that's a non-issue b/c her character is a dynamic and multi-dimensional one, not to mention the obvious wrester/stripper as performers parallel.
You've never heard of the dramatic cliche where the hero has to die? Sure, what you say about "happy endings" is a cliche, but there are cliches that are also nihilisitic and very dark. The tone of the ending doesn't make it interesting.
I don't even care that he died. In my ending he would die too, but he wouldn't have died in an unbelievable and half absurd scene where everything comes together between two characters. Wrestlers can die the way that Rourke's character does, but come on, it never happens and is just a preposterous plot device. Besides, aren't there a million stories where a character suddenly has a revelation and runs to save someone from making a big mistake? Yes, in this instance it was a failure, but the fact the film would use that set up to make it its dramatic conclusion makes the ending a cliche.
Yeah I agree that the film is extremely cliched. I think I expected a few more surprises scriptwise, I just didn't like to know where this was going so early on. Of course it is SAVED by the performances and the little touches of originality that Arronofsky is able to put here and there, I loved the musical choices and the way the real wrestling world is portrayed. Thank God they didn't went the "million dollar baby" way and made the final opponent a ridiculous disney villain, but a lot of the other stuff was way too predictable for me to completely enjoy it.
It didn't felt so much a character study as a kind of re examining of this kind of story. There Will Be Blood or Raging Bull are truly great character studies, this one kind of falls short in that department. It feels like it really wants to be, and will be original, but then it doesn't. It's not bad really, but I had higher hopes.
Quote from: Gold Trumpet on March 22, 2009, 09:34:35 PM
Sure, what you say about "happy endings" is a cliche, but there are cliches that are also nihilisitic and very dark. The tone of the ending doesn't make it interesting.
all i know is these days i'd take a cliche happy ending over a dun nuh nuh duh nuh duh-you figure out the rest one. biggest cliche/cop out of 'em all. and Gold Trump is right about tone not making up for it.
i'm growing so tired of dedicating my time and involvement in story and characters only to be left unfulfilled in the end. i dont want to come up with my own damn interpretation anymore. i want a satisfying ending. good or bad. i see them coming everytime too. the end credits. everytime with 'loose end' movies - "No, it couldn't possibly..yep, it's gonna do it. they're gonna roll..aaaand there they are-sonuvabitch."
i wanted The Wrestler to come back from the black to Mickey's mug there on the canvas mat of the ring with Springstein kicking in over his closed eyes flickering as they barely come open to catch Marissa through the ropes, loosing her attempted advance to him through the crowd then his eyes giving up and falling shut again (a smile too much?) and then cut back to the black. in No Country, after Tommy Lee Jones saw the screws and the dime in the carpet, i wanted him to put together what went down there at the motel through flashback all the way back to what happened with Brolin and the girl/Mexicans arriving/killing the two/Mexicans not being able to find money/Javier arriving/witnessing cops (including Jones) at scene of crime/going in after they all leave and finding money in air vent. actually, Coens could've still had their b.s. dream ending after this, this was more of a needed something more ending than a make up your own mind one.
Doubt was the latest casualty for me. something. more. missing.
Quote from: Pozer on April 14, 2009, 07:41:07 PMi wanted The Wrestler to come back from the black to Mickey's mug there on the canvas mat of the ring with Springstein kicking in over his closed eyes flickering as they barely come open to catch Marissa through the ropes, loosing her attempted advance to him through the crowd then his eyes giving up and falling shut again (a smile too much?) and then cut back to the black. in No Country, after Tommy Lee Jones saw the screws and the dime in the carpet, i wanted him to put together what went down there at the motel through flashback all the way back to what happened with Brolin and the girl/Mexicans arriving/killing the two/Mexicans not being able to find money/Javier arriving/witnessing cops (including Jones) at scene of crime/going in after they all leave and finding money in air vent. actually, Coens could've still had their b.s. dream ending after this, this was more of a needed something more ending than a make up your own mind one.
Wow. Those would be two really bad endings.
Quote from: Pozer on April 14, 2009, 07:41:07 PM
i wanted The Wrestler to come back from the black to Mickey's mug there on the canvas mat of the ring with Springstein kicking in over his closed eyes flickering as they barely come open to catch Marissa through the ropes, loosing her attempted advance to him through the crowd then his eyes giving up and falling shut again (a smile too much?) and then cut back to the black. in No Country, after Tommy Lee Jones saw the screws and the dime in the carpet, i wanted him to put together what went down there at the motel through flashback all the way back to what happened with Brolin and the girl/Mexicans arriving/killing the two/Mexicans not being able to find money/Javier arriving/witnessing cops (including Jones) at scene of crime/going in after they all leave and finding money in air vent. actually, Coens could've still had their b.s. dream ending after this, this was more of a needed something more ending than a make up your own mind one.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.filmstew.com%2FFeatures%2F15538%2Ftw_koepp.jpg&hash=af011dea23a1f86fc0d40e2de44865c039352ce5)
"FUCK YEAH"
Quote from: ©brad on April 15, 2009, 09:35:20 AM
Wow. Those would be two really bad endings.
you're a brad ending.
Yeah, sorry Pozer, those ending would have really sucked.
Also, what the fuck is so ambiguous about the end to the Wrestler? It's pretty obvious.
I will agree with a little bit so that it doesn't appear that I'm attacking my good friend Pozer because I hate it when an ending is ambiguous just to be "artsy"... as if it's done so when you say "your movie sucked" they can just be like "You're just mad because you couldn't figure out who the killer was on your own".
i dont defend those endings. i was trying to say..something. more. something. in truth, i dont even remember coming into The Wrestler thread yestereevnin. i think i was trying to defend Gold Trump for a change w/having only enough energy to read a smidgen of his post & ended up not defending him at all. i dont even remember what doubt was about. penguins or some such?
i have several more bad endings to movies written out on Del Taco napkins that ill probably end up sharing next time i'm sauced up and alone. tonight.
canadian version is missing 'within the ring', whatever that was... :yabbse-undecided:
...someonemegaupplzz?
Quote from: picolas on April 20, 2009, 08:49:34 PM
canadian version is missing 'within the ring', whatever that was... :yabbse-undecided:
It's a 42 minute making-of/behind-the-scenes doc. It talks about how the film came about, Aronofsky's shooting style, couple deleted scenes, the music, etc.
:yabbse-lipsrsealed: :yabbse-shocked: :yabbse-embarassed: :yabbse-cry: :evil: BAHHH
obviously i'll search for this but if anyone else finds it please let me know.
Canada gets different versions of DVDs than US? I assumed they just repeated all the text on the packaging in French and then called it a day.
you're right aside from like three movies. of which the wrestler is one.
we got better cover art though.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51lXFdiiT-L._SL500_AA240_.jpg&hash=02d210aba9be9471040d7f20fbd5781425572e48)
i'll probably end up buying the us dvd and slapping the canadian cardboard keepcase overtop from work. but still keep eyes peeled for this doc!