Slashfilm has gotten their hands on two scenes from Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming pro-wrestling film, “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. One is a sequence in the wrestling ring which shows off Rourke’s long-blond locks, his pretty ripped body and gives a sample of some of the brutal wrestling moves in the film. It’s actually the final match in the movie against the Ayatollah, a a 20th anniversary rematch of an epic battle they fought back in their heyday (The Ayatollah obviously modelled after the WWF’s The Iron Shiek grappler from the mid-80s, much like Rourke’s character is modelled after Randy “Macho Man” Savage).
But more importantly, the second clip you’ll see here WILL be Mickey Rourke’s Oscar clip if he gets nominated for an Oscar. Frankly, we wouldn’t watch the scene (though it has already been out there once), it should be witnessed within the context of the film, but it’s deeply moving in the film and if the comeback kid does get nominated, it’s pretty much because of this killer scene opposite from Evan Rachel Wood that literally rips your heart open in the film (we normally dislike her, but she was excellent in the film, we must admit and we kind of hope she gets a Best Supporting nod). “The Wrestler” comes out December 19. We saw it back in September at TIFF and pretty-much thought it was rock-solid. You can read our non-spoiler-y review here or our deep analysis of the script.
We’re dying to hear what the wrestling community thinks of this film and specifically Savage.
