The Wrestler (2008)

A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.

Director:

Darren Aronofsky

Writer:

Robert D. Siegel

Stars:

Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

Top 250 #245 | Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 41 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mickey Rourke	...	Randy 'The Ram' Robinson
Marisa Tomei	...	Cassidy
Evan Rachel Wood	...	Stephanie
Mark Margolis	...	Lenny
Todd Barry	...	Wayne
Wass Stevens	...	Nick Volpe
Judah Friedlander	...	Scott Brumberg
Ernest Miller	...	The Ayatollah
Dylan Keith Summers	...	Necro Butcher (as Dylan Summers)
Tommy Farra	...	Tommy Rotten
Mike Miller	...	Lex Lethal
Marcia Jean Kurtz	...	Admissions Desk Woman
John D'Leo	...	Adam
Ajay Naidu	...	Medic
Gregg Bello	...	JAPW Promoter Larry Cohen

Storyline

This is a drama about an aging professional wrestler, decades past his prime, who now barely gets by working small wrestling shows in VFW halls and as a part-time grocery store employee. As he faces health problems that may end his wrestling career for good he attempts to come to terms with his life outside the ring: by working full time at the grocery store, trying to reconcile with the daughter he abandoned in childhood and forming a closer bond with a stripper he has romantic feelings for. He struggles with his new life and an offer of a high-profile rematch with his 1980s arch-nemesis, The Ayatollah, which may be his ticket back to stardom.

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Plot Keywords:

wrestling | wrestler | professional wrestler | supermarket | stripper | 

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Taglines:

Love. Pain. Glory.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality/nudity, language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Fox Searchlight [us] Mars Distribution [fr]

Country:

USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

El luchador

Filming Locations:

1230 East Linden Avenue, Linden, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£802,046 (UK) (16 January 2009)

Gross:

$26,236,603 (USA) (8 May 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wild Bunch, Protozoa Pictures, Saturn Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei attended the same high school, Edward R. Murrow High School.

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Goofs

When Randy is in the pharmacy he is paged with the message "Robin Ramsinski, your prescription is ready in the pharmacy". Stating that Randy had a prescription (or any other specific material items) waiting for him is a violation of HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). The pharmacy is allowed to say his name and call for him to come to their front desk, but that's it.

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Quotes

[First Line]
WXW Announcer: and a true American, the people's hero... Randy "The Ram" Robinson!

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Connections

Referenced in The 85th Oscars (2013)
Mentioned in the "We Saw Your Boobs" song.

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Soundtracks

"Jerk It"
Written by Omalola Isis Salami and Graham Bertie
Performed by Thunderheist
Courtesy of Thunderheist
By Arrangement with Third Side Music, Inc.

User Reviews

Honest to the core!

I caught an advanced screening of The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke last night in Hollywood, CA. Following the screening was a Q&A session with Mickey Rourke, Darren Aronofsky, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and film composer Clint Mansell.

Mickey Rourke delivers one of the most honest and heart breaking performances I've seen from an actor. Very rarely do you see an actor come back with such a role. He is truly extraordinary in The Wrestler. There are times in this film when I wonder just how much of this is Mickey in character as "The Ram" or Mickey reacting as Mickey to a situation similar to what he went through in his "lost years". The parallels are astounding. There is a scene when Randy "The Ram" is in the ring and he points to the audience "It is not over until you tell me it's over". Is it Mickey or Randy talking there? As a newly revived Mickey Rourke fan, I can tell you this audience member says it's just beginning Mickey!

Marissa Tomei delivers a stellar performance as an aging exotic dancer the parallel story to Mickey's character "The Ram". Evan Rachel Wood really brings it as "The Rams" angry, abandoned and emotionally exhausted daughter. The chemistry between Mickey and Evan is breath taking!

Darren Aronofsky delivers this story to us with honesty, realism and artistic skill. I think this young director will be around making fantastic films for some time to come. At least I hope he is!

You can't go wrong with this film. It is rock solid to the core!

Facts from the Q&A

Only the 3rd American Film to with the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

The film was made for $7 Million.

The filmscore is more atmospheric as the composer did not want to interfere with the documentary feel of the film.

Mickey Rourke trained for 6 months to get to the wrestling weight of 235 for the film. Weight training, wrestling training and eating 5,000 calories.

The scenes of Mickey Rourke and Evan Rachel Wood were as real as they could get. The actors put on music before the scene and just talked about their real life and Mickey's parallels to the film. When the director felt they were there he would yell action and they would work through the scene.

The scenes back stage with the wrestlers were all real as well. The crew would go to wrestling matches and film the wrestlers before/after matches. Mickey would walk in and introduce himself (in character) and the scene was improvised.

The film was about 20-30% improvisation from the actors.