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Aronofsky's "The Wrestler"

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I don't think the point has to be clarified beyond what somebody has already said (and maybe I'm thinking of a different board here).

 

It's not that Randy is forced to do the hardcore matches with Necro Butcher. It's that he is so poor that he is choosing to do them rather than have a weekend in which he doesn't get that additional wrestling paycheck. It seems to me that his character is actively seeking out whatever work he can get -- which is later paralleled in his day job.

 

 

I agree for the most part, but it does kinda make me question just how "big" of a star he ever was. I mean lets face it, guys like Hogan or Flair, can pretty much get a job in WWE anytime they want if it strictly for the money, as long as they are willing to put over someone. The difference of course is that those guys aren't broke so they have a lot more leverage then Randy "The Ram" who would have probably been willing to do anything for a paycheck. Most mass wrestling crowds are SUCKERS for nostalgia acts.

 

So that makes me think in theory, not only was he old and broken down, but also had burned a lot of bridges WITH A BLOWTORCH.

 

That was my one major gripe with the film as well, as besides the opening montage of wrestling posters, and a quick reference in some dialoge, we never really get a real sense of how "big" he was, or how far he has fallen.

 

As wrestling fans, we can assume.

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Maybe he had sex with the big promoters under aged daughter and the two will never work together again. He was big enough to main event ROH, which I'd take it was meant to be the #2 North American promotion in the movie. So really you just have to assume he burnt bridges with the #1 promotion.

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Saw this today..finally..it lived up to all the expectations I had for it. I will note that the PQ was beyond abysmal and Im hoping it was just the theatre here and not the actual film.

 

I saw the IMDB site which said that Rourke wasn't one of the top options for the main role, they wanted Stallone or Nicolas Cage..I can't imagine this movie with either of them though.

 

My one small gripe was that I couldnt buy Ernest Miller as the Ayatollah.

 

From the stories I have heard, Aronofsky wrote the movie for Rourke, but he turned it down the first time. Cage got the part, but dropped out after being backstage at an ROH event. Aronofsky sent the script to Rourke again, even after hearing that he could not get financial backing for Rourke. Rourke re-read the script after Aronofsky told him he couldn't pay him, but could get him an Oscar. I read these from various media news sites over the production time. Rourke also mentioned on Leno, I believe, about not getting paid but getting the Oscar nod.

 

Aronofsky didn't write the movie.

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Saw this today..finally..it lived up to all the expectations I had for it. I will note that the PQ was beyond abysmal and Im hoping it was just the theatre here and not the actual film.

 

I saw the IMDB site which said that Rourke wasn't one of the top options for the main role, they wanted Stallone or Nicolas Cage..I can't imagine this movie with either of them though.

 

My one small gripe was that I couldnt buy Ernest Miller as the Ayatollah.

 

From the stories I have heard, Aronofsky wrote the movie for Rourke, but he turned it down the first time. Cage got the part, but dropped out after being backstage at an ROH event. Aronofsky sent the script to Rourke again, even after hearing that he could not get financial backing for Rourke. Rourke re-read the script after Aronofsky told him he couldn't pay him, but could get him an Oscar. I read these from various media news sites over the production time. Rourke also mentioned on Leno, I believe, about not getting paid but getting the Oscar nod.

 

Aronofsky didn't write the movie.

 

My bad, when Aronofsky read the script, he had Rourke first in mind, that's what it was.

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My bad, when Aronofsky read the script, he had Rourke first in mind, that's what it was.

 

Aronofsky commissioned Siegel to write the script, and Siegel and Aronofsky both had Rourke in mind.

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Ernest Miller got a role in an upcoming movie as Geogre Foreman based on his peformance in this

 

I found it funny at the Spirit awards that the dude from The Rocker (who I forget the name of) did a James Brown mock tribute song to The Wrestler. Immediately reminded me of The Cat.

 

Obviously The Wrestler has become the springboard to The Cat becoming THE GREATEST ACTOR IN HOLLYWOOD HISTORY!

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I don't think the point has to be clarified beyond what somebody has already said (and maybe I'm thinking of a different board here).

 

It's not that Randy is forced to do the hardcore matches with Necro Butcher. It's that he is so poor that he is choosing to do them rather than have a weekend in which he doesn't get that additional wrestling paycheck. It seems to me that his character is actively seeking out whatever work he can get -- which is later paralleled in his day job.

 

 

I agree for the most part, but it does kinda make me question just how "big" of a star he ever was. I mean lets face it, guys like Hogan or Flair, can pretty much get a job in WWE anytime they want if it strictly for the money, as long as they are willing to put over someone. The difference of course is that those guys aren't broke so they have a lot more leverage then Randy "The Ram" who would have probably been willing to do anything for a paycheck. Most mass wrestling crowds are SUCKERS for nostalgia acts.

 

So that makes me think in theory, not only was he old and broken down, but also had burned a lot of bridges WITH A BLOWTORCH.

 

That was my one major gripe with the film as well, as besides the opening montage of wrestling posters, and a quick reference in some dialoge, we never really get a real sense of how "big" he was, or how far he has fallen.

 

As wrestling fans, we can assume.

 

Dude, he was modeled after Lex Luger. You only need to look as far as how big of a star Luger himself was. He was never a Hogan or Flair, but they tried to make him into one. An upper-mid card guy who got a main event spot due to his looks.. and after his appeal dwindled, so did his career and his bank account.

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