Darren Aronofsky on The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, acclaimed director of the film The Wrestler offered some insights, at a recent Q&A, to his Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival) winning, Golden Globe nominated film about an emotionally crippled, aging wrestler.
On many levels this is Rourke's film with many parallels to his life, including going from acclaim to hard times when no one would hire him. This made him reluctant, at first to take the role, but as it was written by Robert Siegel with him in mind there was no resisting. Aronofsky says Rourke can be tough to work with, for example, he scrutinized every single line of the script so much so that between 10 and 20% of the final dialogue was improvised by him. But it worked as in one of the the deli scenes when a non-actor customer asks for "two big breast" and Rourke comes back with something about wanting "big breasts plus brains". When Rourke stepped in front of the camera, he was amazing, fully commiting to the role boy physically and emotionally. Despite whatever difficulties, Aronofsky says, it was more than worth it.
Aronofsky had the idea to make a film about wrestling right out of film school at AFI and later teamed up with screenwriter Siegel. Aronofsky was looking to start a new chapter after what he calls his first series: Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. Particulary after the lavishness of The Fountain, he wanted to make a sparer, simpler piece. He and Siegel did an enormous amount of research, traveling all over the country to small wrestling matches and shows. They were shocked to discover many big name formerly famous wrestlers at sparsely populated fan events, like the one depicted in the film.
When shooting the film, Aronofsky called on cinematographer Maryse Alberti, recently of Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Aronofsky wanted a documentary style intimacy: a raw, gritty and grainy look, shot handheld on Super 16mm. He says the style of the film was a reflection of Rourke's naked emotionalism in the role. Injecting even more realism, all the matches were shot during actual wrestling events, and did not employ a single stuntman. The audience was alerted to just behave normally and then in between real matches, the crew would run out and shoot Mickey, who, performed all his own stunts. Rourke has boxed professionally but says learning how to wrestle gave him a new respect and appreciation for the sport which is as different from boxing as ping pong is from rugby.
Aronofsky is happy to have discovered so many "closet Mickey Rourke fans" as he call us. He's enjoyed seeing Rourke do so many red carpet events, even bringing his dog to Venice for said award. The enormous commitment and effort put in by everyone is a triumphant "comeback" for Mickey and yet another brilliant film to add to the Darren Aronofsky canon.
The Wrestler opens December 17, 2008.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky; written by Robert Siegel; produced by Scott Franlin; director of photography Maryse Alberti; edited by Andrew Weisblum; music by Clint Mansell. Released by Fox Searchlight. Running time: 109 minutes.
With: Mickey Rourke (Randy "The Ram" Robinson); Marisa Tomei (Cassidy/Pam); Evan Rachel Wood (Stephanie); Judah Friedlander (Scott Brumberg) and Todd Barry (Wayne); Ernest "The Cat" Miller (The Ayatollah); Ron "The Truth" Killings (himself); Smooth Tommy Suede (himself); and Dylan Summers (Necro Butcher).
