Useless Movie Trivia
The Wrestler

Memorable Quotes

Randy 'The Ram' Robinson: The only place I get hurt is out there. The world don't give a shit about me.

Trivia

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.

Fox Searchlight bought the North American rights to the film at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival for a reported $4 million.

World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famer Afa Anoai ("The Wild Samoan") trained Mickey Rourke and choreographed the matches. His daughter, Vale Anoai, has a brief role as a pharmacist.

Darren Aronofsky revealed that Mickey Rourke was the first choice to play Randy "The Ram" Robinson but the studio wanted Nicolas Cage. Aronofsky fought to have Rourke as "The Ram", and ultimately won out.

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

Throughout most of the movie, "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)" by Quiet Riot is The Ram's theme intro.

The scene where a fan hands "The Ram" a prosthetic leg 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 Tom Laughlin (aka "Tommy Dreamer"), who in turn used it on his opponent.

Randy "The Ram" Robinson's uneasy relationship with his daughter Stephanie parallels that of real-life wrestler 'Jake The Snake Roberts' and his daughter, as chronicled on the documentary Beyond the Mat (1999).

The video game Randy and his child neighbor play in the trailer was created especially for the film and was fully playable. The game features similar graphics to the original WWF Wrestlemania Nintendo game.

Mickey Rourke actually "gigged" (cut his own forehead with a razor blade as many wrestlers do) in this film to add realism to the role.

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

The first scene of Randy working the deli counter was improvised. When real customers kept walking up to the counter during filming, Darren Aronofsky told Mickey Rourke to take their orders while the camera would continue rolling. Also improvised were all of the backstage locker room scenes.

Scott Siegel, the actor who portrayed a steroids dealer in the film, was arrested a few months after the films release for steroids possession and assaulting federal officers.

Goofs

Randy is shown a couple times getting his roots bleached. Once at the salon and another time when he tries to do it himself at home. Both times after his hair is bleached, his hair looks exactly the same, with dark roots.

Marisa Tomei plays the part of a topless dancer in NJ. In NJ, there are no topless dancers. If a bar serves alcohol, the dancers must be clothed in at least a G-String and pasties and it's called a "Go-Go Bar". If a bar does not serve alcohol, the dancers can be, and always are, nude.

Box Office Info For The USA

Budget: $6,000,000

Gross: $26,236,603

Filming Dates: January 2008 to March 2008

Filming Locations

1230 East Linden Avenue, Linden, New Jersey, USA
Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA
Bayonne, New Jersey, USA
Convention Hall, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA
Dover Ballroom, Dover, New Jersey, USA (Final Match)
Dover, New Jersey, USA
Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
Frenchy's Bar & Grill, Roselle Park, New Jersey, USA (Bar scene)
Garfield, New Jersey, USA
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, USA
Linden, New Jersey, USA(Cheeques)
Martha Washington Apartments, Clifton, New Jersey, USA
Mieleville Home Park, Hazlet, New Jersey, USA (Mobile Home)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Rahway, New Jersey, USA
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rahway, New Jersey, USA
Stiletto Club, Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA (Cheeques)