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Other News: "The Wrestler" director details difficulty working with Mickey Rourke filming wrestling scenes Dec 4, 2008 - 5:44:59 PM
Getting lead actor Mickey Rourke into character while filming "The Wrestler" was not an easy task, according to director Darren Aronofsky. Asking him to parlay real-life emotion into a character very close to Rourke's own personal life made for a challenge.
"Even though, between action and cut, he was brilliant, getting him to action was tough," Aronofsky told the Hollywood Reporter. "There's a lot of fear to let that emotion out. I was asking him to do some really painful stuff, and because he's Method trained, he has to go to dark places."
Aronofsky says Rourke wants to be in control of his craft, yet the personal issues from his past naturally interfered with trying to perform his lead role in key scenes.
"Even though he's in control of the craft, I think it rocks him for a while," Aronofsky said. "When you sit with the guy, you see all this armor, but the armor's there because it's protecting the softest jelly you've ever seen. He's got so much love and a big heart, but he's just terrified."
Aronofsky also detailed their work with wrestling promotions, without mentioning Ring of Honor by name, instead of trying to create a make-believe promotion for the in-ring and wrestling-specific filming.
"We didn't have the money to put on wrestling promotions, so we worked with actual wrestling promotions to put on true wrestling events and then stick us in the middle of it," Aronofsky said. "We put on two matches with real wrestlers, and then me, Mickey and the camerawoman would run out and shoot a little piece, and then we'd run back and catch our breath and reload."
Link:Hollywood Reporter interview.
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