Darren Aronofsky on the films behind 'The Wrestler'

Greetings, grapple fans. As well as seeing the return of Mickey Rourke, Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’ is part of an American cinema tradition, as the director explains to David Jenkins

‘The Wrestler’ is the latest work by Darren Aronofsky, the 39-year-old director of ‘Pi’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream’. It’s interesting for three reasons. Firstly, it marks the return to ‘serious’ acting of its bruised star, Mickey Rourke, who plays a low-rent local wrestler, Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, who haplessly risks his life to cling on to past glories; the role won Rourke the award for best actor at Sunday’s Golden Globes. Secondly, the film picked up the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival – a remarkable feat considering that Aronofsky’s last film, the tragically overblown sci-fi calamity, ‘The Fountain’, was booed on the same turf. Finally, ‘The Wrestler’ is a film firmly rooted in a long American tradition of films which examine the mysterious allure of violence as a way of life.

Here, Aronofsky explains how ‘The Wrestler’ fits into that last strain of American cinema by discussing some of the ‘fight films’ that influenced him.

‘Angel Heart’(1987)/‘Homeboy’(1988)
‘I became aware of Mickey Rourke through “Angel Heart”. I was backpacking in Europe when I was 18 and went to see the movie because I was a big Lisa Bonet fan (I was from Brooklyn and they filmed “The Cosby Show” down the street). I remember being blown away by his performance. He was so cool, so tough and so soft at the same time. I got to know “Homeboy” (above) when I started working with Mickey. He asked if I’d ever seen this boxing film he’d written, and he gave me a tape. Not many actors have armour like that. Then you look into his eyes and he’s got a jelly heart.’

‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
‘Well, “Raging Bull” is masterful in many different ways. I think it’s a very different type of film to “The Wrestler”, but, you know, it’s been a major influence. I feel it’s more of an impressionistic film. I think Scorsese was using the camera as a paintbrush, especially in the fighting scenes. I watch that film and I question whether it’s possible to make something like that today. “Raging Bull” is an art film, and it’s harder to get money for those kinds of projects. For a film like “The Wrestler”, we had one financial backer on the planet who was willing to make the movie with me, and because of that we had a very limited budget.’

‘Rocky’ (1976)
‘For me, “Rocky” is a sports movie, but it’s also a performance movie. Wrestling and wrestlers err more towards acting and theatre than towards sports. There was a film of John Osborne’s play “The Entertainer” (1960), which interested me: Olivier plays a vaudeville performer who can’t say goodbye to the stage. And relating to the idea of “Rocky”, there’s a song written by Charles Mingus called ‘The Clown’, a jazz song with lyrics, and it’s about a clown who has to do more and more extreme stunts. One day, he gets hit in the head with a prop and the crowd goes crazy, so he has to keep putting more and more of himself at risk. That was a big influence.’

‘They Live’ (1988)
‘I think that with “They Live” John Carpenter was trying to lampoon fight scenes as, you know, they were clearly fake. And what’s interesting about the hardcore wrestling in “The Wrestler” (where Rourke’s Randy “The Ram” Robinson is beaten with broken glass, barbed wire and staple guns) is that the audience are not idiots – they know wrestling is fake. I think one of the reasons that hardcore wrestling exists is because the cat is out of the bag and everyone’s knows that what they’re experiencing is a theatrical number. People in that bloodthirsty world are looking for men and women who risk themselves and their health by doing more and more dangerous stunts. In “They Live” – it’s not about who wins; it’s about how much can people hurt each other.’

‘Kickboxer’ (1989)
‘I am a fan of those movies. I used to love the Van Damme and Steven Seagal films when they came out. They were fun. They’re not making those kinds of movies in America any more; they prefer legitimate superheroes: middle-class, medium-build guys who become these pumped-up superheroes like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van Damme and Seagal from the 1980s. We don’t have many of those guys any more. Maybe Gerard Butler or Jason Statham, but it’s different. Then it was about body, now it’s about costumes. With our film, I don’t think we were commenting on those movies, but I’m sure it was floating around in my subconscious. There’s a lot about bodybuilding culture in “The Wrestler” and I’m sure that derives from all the early Schwarzenegger stuff like “Pumping Iron”.’

‘Fat City’ (1972)
John Huston’s ‘Fat City’ was something we drew on, especially the atmospheric vibe, the poetry and the naturalism. There was also another film called “North Dallas Forty” (1979) with Nick Nolte, and even though it’s an American football movie, a lot of the themes apply. Then there’s “Wanda” (1970) by Elia Kazan’s wife, Barbara Loden. It’s a great film. I was interested in the realism. My previous films, “Pi”, “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Fountain” were stylised. I missed being in the gutter. I wanted to go back there with “The Wrestler”.’

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