The Wrestler - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Wrestler or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Wrestler

[tom]

Randy "The Ram" Robinson's van is a Dodge Ram.

[steve]

Darren dedicated this film in memory of his movie mentor Stuart Rosenberg, who died on March 15, 2007.

[lonnie]

Contrary to prior reports that Mickey Rourke didn't get paid at all to appear in this film (which would have been a violation of union rules), a profile of Darren Aronofsky in the March 17, 2014, issue of the New Yorker mentioned that Rourke did end up being paid a hundred thousand dollars for the role, and he asked to receive some of that salary in cash in a brown paper bag.

[caroline]

The scene where a fan hands "The Ram" a prosthetic leg and "The Ram" then hits his opponent with it is based on an actual event from an ECW show where a fan repeatedly yelled "use my leg" and eventually tossed his prosthetic leg to Tommy Dreamer, who in turn used it on his opponent.

[claude]

A retired wrestler Bret Hart, a seven-time world champion in WWF and WCW, liked the movie but at the same time was disturbed by its unbalanced portrayal of life as a professional wrestler. While appreciating the "clairvoyant performance" by Mickey Rourke and the "astutely layered vision" by director Darren Aronofsky, Hart felt the film's dark misinterpretation merely shows what many people outside the business think the sport is. He also criticized that the film helps to reinforce some opinions that anyone can walk in the ring and wrestle. Hart says he trained almost daily during his career.

[bernard]

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

[ronnie]

Due to the film's modest budget, Axl Rose donated the use of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" free of charge for the final match.

[edgar]

The film reportedly moved wrestler Roddy Piper so much, he broke down and cried after a screening.

[ronnie]

Robert Siegel: The film's writer makes an appearance at the start of the film as a fan getting an autograph from Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke).

[lena]

At one point Nicolas Cage was set to star in the movie. He was seen at a Ring of Honor wrestling event in NYC doing research for the part. However, Cage dropped out of production because he felt he didn't have time to prepare for the part and Darren Aronofsky preferred Mickey Rourke for the lead role.

[liam]

While Cassidy and Randy are at the bar and singing along to "Round and Round" by Ratt, they symbolically stop singing right before the line "our love will find a way, just give it time."

[ivan]

In the original screenplay, Randy's daughter Stephanie comes to find him and make amends. She is in AA and making amends is part of her 12 Step program.

[sylvia]

The 'cocaine' that Randy snorts is fake, as is common practice in movies. Usually, inositol powder (vitamin B, often used in energy drinks) is used because it has the right consistency and is generally safe to use, although it can produce a 'slight high'. Mickey Rourke was apparently not notified of this effect, and actually had a brief 'freak out' upon hearing what he had just ingested.

[violet]

Although Darren Aronofsky wanted Mickey Rourke for the lead role, Rourke was initially hesitant to be in the film because he wasn't a fan of the script nor did he like pro-wrestling. However, after Aronofsky let Rourke rewrite much of his dialogue, Rourke agreed to be in the film.

[darrell]

Shot in 40 days.

[kristen]

The old wrestling photos of the Ram in his heyday are actually doctored photos of former wrestler Larry Pfohl (a.k.a. Lex Luger).

[brent]

On February 9, 2008, as a part of Combat Zone Wrestling's regular February event, filming took place in the New Alhambra Arena for the movie, which included many CZW alumni, along with Dylan Keith Summers (a.k.a. "Necro Butcher").

[carl]

The video game Randy and his child neighbor play in both the trailer and the movie was created especially for the film and was fully playable. The game features similar graphics to the original WWF WrestleMania (1989) Nintendo game.

[nina]

This movie, and Mickey Rourke's status as lead actor in it, was used in a story angle by the world's most well-known pro-wrestling company, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, previously known as the World Wrestling Federation or WWF). The story angle reached its climax at The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania (2009), where Rourke himself made an appearance at the event (not as a wrestler however).