Tidbit About 'The Wrestler'

[redfiona99]

-- In an interview with Slam Wrestling, actor Mickey Rourke reveals that he was not initially interested in playing the lead character in Darren Arnofsky's "The Wrestler." Rourke says a meeting with WWE Hall of Famer Greg "The Hammer" Valentine is what led him to follow up on the role. Rourke tells Slam Wrestling, "Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was this big, big guy in, maybe his early 60s, but he was still all tanned, and with all this long blonde hair," Rourke said. "He spoke about wrestling with such enthusiasm, and such pride." He also commented on the lack of benefits available for the performers. "Absolutely, these (promotions) should be looked into. There's no insurance, no pensions."

Comments

[one-more-cherry.livejournal.com]

I've been hearing such wonderful things about that movie, and I'm so inspired. Maybe this'll prove to the Hollywood suits that wrestling can have its own "Rocky" and its own "Raging Bull"...

[coneyislandbaby]

Ooh. I don't have much interest in wrestling but this I would go and see. And not only for Mickey Rourke though I do like him. But yes. This sounds like it could be interesting. I mean, I strongly dislike football (the one with the ovally balls) and one of my favourite movies is Remember The Titans. So...

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

'Cause I'm coming into this from a wrestling perspective, the main worry was that wrestling would be this figure of fun in the film, and they definitely seem to have avoided that.

[coneyislandbaby]

Which is a very good thing. I can imagine it - there've been enough movies with it like that (even Spider-Man had a touch of that).

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

I always thought Spiderman did it quite well, because some of the stories the wrestlers who have come up through the independent promotions tell sound so much like what Peter has happen to him.