Darren Afonsky’s 2008 film The Wrestler Stars Mickey Rourke as the lead character Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson an aging 80’s Wrestler past his prime. Working in small venues and part time at a supermarket, early on we see Randy’s poor financial situation as he is locked out of his flat for late again on his rent, but remains popular with the children of the neighbourhood as they remain his fans. As Randy tries to continue doing his dream job, he suffers a heart attack after a match stopping all wresting work. As he tries to win the affections of a stripper he’s developed feelings for, and rekindle his relationship with his estranged daughter, his efforts seem to go unrewarded, and the lure of the ring and his adoring fans prove too much for Randy to refuse. He goes back to a the world where he is loved and feels important to people’s lives, and as he jumps off the top rope the film fades to black, the crowd roars and the music fades, as Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wrestler’ starts playing softly and the credits role, leaving it unknown to the audience if the character survived his the match.
Though Afonsky has much to thank for this truly touching piece of cinema, it has not gone unnoticed how similar the character’s story is to Rourke’s, perhaps being the reason he gave the performance of his life and won best actor at the Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination. When first offered the part, Rourke turned it down stating it reminded him of a dark piece of his past he didn’t want to revisit. After taking with the director, Rourke rewrote the scenes with the characters daughter he hadn’t seen for years, the final speech, and the steroid scenes. The two scenes of dialogue he wrote with his daughter and the last speech, turned out the most engaging and effective of the whole film. It is clear how (especially the latter) relate to Rourke’s Personal life.
“I just want to say to you all tonight I'm very grateful to be here. A lot of people told me that I'd never wrestle again and that's all I do. You know, if you live hard and play hard and you burn the candle at both ends, you pay the price for it. You know in this life you can loose everything you love, everything that loves you. Now I don't hear as good as I used to and I forget stuff and I ain’t as pretty as I used to be but god damn it I'm still standing here and I'm The Ram. As times goes by, as times goes by, they say "he's washed up", "he's finished" , "he's a loser", "he's all through". You know what? The only one that's going to tell me when I'm through doing my thing is you people here.”
This clearly correlates the similarities of Rourkes career as an actor, as a popular attractive actor in the 80’s only to quit and start boxing. This film marked his comeback, critic David Anson calling it “the resurrection of Mickey Rourke.” I feel this is proof of what I said in an earlier post, about how relating to the characters can be vital when writing. Clearly Rourke was thinking of a personal story when writing this speech, and it resulted in to a very powerful piece of cinema.
The Wrestler has been hailed “A harmonic convergence of player and part that happen once in a blue moon” – David Anson and truly is a masterpiece of cinema. It’s a personal story correlating Rourkes life that brings an extra effective element to it, and it is clear only Mickey Rourke could’ve played this part this well.
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