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12-29-2008, 02:13 PM
http://www.lostcolonyentertainment.com/
'Wrestler' Director Calls for Screen Actors Guild to Intervene on Behalf of Real-Life Wrestlers
Friday, December 29, 2008
As we reported several days ago, World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon was reportedly angered by the content of Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed film, “The Wrestler,” after the filmmaker gave the wrestling promoter a private screening at his Stamford, Connecticut offices.
The film, which centers on an aging wrestler named Randy “The Ram” Robinson (played by Mickey Rourke)--who goes from headlining major WWE-like events to performing in high school gyms in front of 200 fans--apparently struck a raw nerve with McMahon, who is allegedly blocking Fox’s attempts to advertise the film during WWE broadcasts on Fox-owned MyNetwork..
Aronofsky probably didn’t endear himself to McMahon with recent comments he’s made regarding the unionization of the wrestling industry either.
“There’s really no reason why these guys are not in SAG,” Aronofsky told Newsday. “They’re in front of a camera performing and doing stunts, and they should have that protection. They should have health insurance and they should be protected."
Curiously, McMahon has long maintained that his “independently contracted” performers aren’t athletes but “entertainers,” partially to get around having his events regulated by state athletic commissions. However, in order to keep the Screen Actors Guild out of his business, his shows are strangely identified as “sports programming.”
"I’m really curious to see what some of these old-timers make of it,” said Aronofsky in an interview with Reelz Channel. “When I won the Golden Lion, I dedicated the film to all the wrestlers, I kind of shared their stories. They’re a unique lot. They’re not organized, they have no pension, no health care, so many of them are tragically dying at a young age. I was talking to Mickey, ‘Why aren’t wrestlers in SAG?’ If you really think about it, the Screen Actors Guild should organize them…They’re performing in front of a camera, and stuntmen are SAG."
Interestingly enough, Rourke was nominated this past week for Best Actor at the SAG Awards for his role in “The Wrestler.”
And
Aronofsky Screens ‘The Wrestler’ for Unhappy WWE Boss
Friday, December 25, 2008
With three Golden Globe nominations in the bag (Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, Marisa Tomei for Best Actress, and Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song), Director Darren Aronofsky is receiving major Oscar buzz and almost universal critical praise for his new film, “The Wrestler.”
What’s more, the movie is being hailed by many people in the professional wrestling business as the most spot-on, accurate depiction of that industry ever captured on celluloid.
In a review for The Washington Post/Newsweek-owned Slate Magazine, wrestler-turned-best-selling-author/actor Mick Foley wrote:
“I'm not sure if I should feel so good about a movie that doesn't seem to show my world in a flattering light. The wrestling business as a whole has always reminded me of Dorothy Gale's post game analysis of her time in Oz: ‘Some of it was horrible, but most of it was beautiful.’ We don't get to see much of that beautiful stuff in Aronfsky's film, although we do see shades of it...Still, I didn't find ‘The Wrestler’ to be a downer at all. Sobering at times, but not at all depressing. Despite all the suffering—both physical and emotional—that Rourke's character endures, the movie is sprinkled with moments of genuine warmth and great humor.”
A project more than ten years in the making, “The Wrestler” tells the story of Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a former WWE-like superstar now down-on-his-luck, attempting a comeback on the indie circuit.
Rourke, who was actually Aronofsky’s original choice to play the role, took over the part from Nicholas Cage two years ago after Aronofsky accepted an offer from Producers Agnes Mentre and Vincent Maraval, the heads of the French-based distribution company, Wild Bunch. Cage willingly stepped aside for Rourke, which allowed Aronofsky to shoot the film on a reduced $6 million budget.
"I was like an insane person,” says Aronofsky. “I would walk up to strangers on the street and ask them what they thought of Mickey Rourke. He was haunting me. He was meant to do it. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but…you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey, and he is old friends with Mickey, and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race."
The film, which captured the prestigious Golden Lion Award in Venice, set off an all-night bidding war at the Toronto Film Festival, with Fox Searchlight besting such notables as Sony, Lionsgate, and The Weinstein Company to take home U.S. rights for $4 million.
With such mass acclaim for “The Wrestler,” it is somewhat curious that Vince McMahon, the Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment and the undisputed “king” of the wrestling industry, is said to be extremely unhappy with the film.
This past week the infamous wrestling promoter invited Aronofsky to privately screen the film for him at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. McMahon, whose struggling film production company, WWE Studios, also has a deal with Fox (one in which it pays the film giant to distribute its mostly straight-to-DVD fare through the Fox Atomic label), airs its TV show, “Friday Night Smackdown,” on the Fox-owned MyNetwork.
Reportedly, WWE has veto power over any wrestling-related advertising that runs during “Smackdown,” which has apparently made it difficult for Fox to advertise its current best Oscar contender on its own network’s top-rated show.
“It’s amusing but it’s not surprising,” says Writer/Producer/Director Richard O’Sullivan, who recently placed a sitcom set in the wrestling industry—entitled “Citizen Pain”—in development at the Toronto based Fight Network. “Vince McMahon is a wrestling promoter. His wrestling company, which his father left to him, is the only thing that’s ever been successful for him. His boxing events failed. His restaurant failed. Evel Knievel jumping the Snake River Canyon failed. He bought the Debbie Reynolds Hotel…that failed. He started a football league and a bodybuilding league and he’s made a bunch of movies which get horrible reviews and don’t turn a profit. The only one of his guys who actually did turn into an a-list star was Dwayne Johnson and that was only after he broke away from Vince, got out of ‘the wrestling vacuum,’ and took control of his own career. So I can see how Vince would be really pissed that a movie about ‘his’ industry—which thematically is out of step with his vision of the business—is getting great reviews and winning awards.”
“Smackdown,” which moved to MyNetwork two months ago after a long run on the CW Network, has traditionally been the top-rated show on “Fifth Network” outlets (meaning non-ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox networks). It began in 1999 on the old UPN Network, then moved to the upstart CW Network in 2006 when UPN merged with the rival WB. Despite posting good ratings, however, WWE programming commands a lower advertising rate than lesser-rated shows and earlier this year CW programming chief Dawn Ostroff cancelled McMahon’s show, saying it was “impossible to promote [any other shows] in or out of it.”
“Pro wrestling has been a staple in television for over sixty years,” says O’Sullivan. “But advertisers still look at it sometimes as this low-rent, trailer park trash sideshow, and the content of McMahon’s TV programs really doesn’t do a lot to change that perception. Aronofsky’s film has really given the wrestling biz a bit of a shot in the arm. People are looking at the industry and the people who work in it and they’re giving them some major respect. But as usual, it’s gonna take Vince McMahon all of five minutes to un-do that good will because as he has publicly stated…he’s in ‘the garbage business.’”
So, think anything will come of this SAG business? Should wrestlers be included?
'Wrestler' Director Calls for Screen Actors Guild to Intervene on Behalf of Real-Life Wrestlers
Friday, December 29, 2008
As we reported several days ago, World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon was reportedly angered by the content of Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed film, “The Wrestler,” after the filmmaker gave the wrestling promoter a private screening at his Stamford, Connecticut offices.
The film, which centers on an aging wrestler named Randy “The Ram” Robinson (played by Mickey Rourke)--who goes from headlining major WWE-like events to performing in high school gyms in front of 200 fans--apparently struck a raw nerve with McMahon, who is allegedly blocking Fox’s attempts to advertise the film during WWE broadcasts on Fox-owned MyNetwork..
Aronofsky probably didn’t endear himself to McMahon with recent comments he’s made regarding the unionization of the wrestling industry either.
“There’s really no reason why these guys are not in SAG,” Aronofsky told Newsday. “They’re in front of a camera performing and doing stunts, and they should have that protection. They should have health insurance and they should be protected."
Curiously, McMahon has long maintained that his “independently contracted” performers aren’t athletes but “entertainers,” partially to get around having his events regulated by state athletic commissions. However, in order to keep the Screen Actors Guild out of his business, his shows are strangely identified as “sports programming.”
"I’m really curious to see what some of these old-timers make of it,” said Aronofsky in an interview with Reelz Channel. “When I won the Golden Lion, I dedicated the film to all the wrestlers, I kind of shared their stories. They’re a unique lot. They’re not organized, they have no pension, no health care, so many of them are tragically dying at a young age. I was talking to Mickey, ‘Why aren’t wrestlers in SAG?’ If you really think about it, the Screen Actors Guild should organize them…They’re performing in front of a camera, and stuntmen are SAG."
Interestingly enough, Rourke was nominated this past week for Best Actor at the SAG Awards for his role in “The Wrestler.”
And
Aronofsky Screens ‘The Wrestler’ for Unhappy WWE Boss
Friday, December 25, 2008
With three Golden Globe nominations in the bag (Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, Marisa Tomei for Best Actress, and Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song), Director Darren Aronofsky is receiving major Oscar buzz and almost universal critical praise for his new film, “The Wrestler.”
What’s more, the movie is being hailed by many people in the professional wrestling business as the most spot-on, accurate depiction of that industry ever captured on celluloid.
In a review for The Washington Post/Newsweek-owned Slate Magazine, wrestler-turned-best-selling-author/actor Mick Foley wrote:
“I'm not sure if I should feel so good about a movie that doesn't seem to show my world in a flattering light. The wrestling business as a whole has always reminded me of Dorothy Gale's post game analysis of her time in Oz: ‘Some of it was horrible, but most of it was beautiful.’ We don't get to see much of that beautiful stuff in Aronfsky's film, although we do see shades of it...Still, I didn't find ‘The Wrestler’ to be a downer at all. Sobering at times, but not at all depressing. Despite all the suffering—both physical and emotional—that Rourke's character endures, the movie is sprinkled with moments of genuine warmth and great humor.”
A project more than ten years in the making, “The Wrestler” tells the story of Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a former WWE-like superstar now down-on-his-luck, attempting a comeback on the indie circuit.
Rourke, who was actually Aronofsky’s original choice to play the role, took over the part from Nicholas Cage two years ago after Aronofsky accepted an offer from Producers Agnes Mentre and Vincent Maraval, the heads of the French-based distribution company, Wild Bunch. Cage willingly stepped aside for Rourke, which allowed Aronofsky to shoot the film on a reduced $6 million budget.
"I was like an insane person,” says Aronofsky. “I would walk up to strangers on the street and ask them what they thought of Mickey Rourke. He was haunting me. He was meant to do it. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but…you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey, and he is old friends with Mickey, and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race."
The film, which captured the prestigious Golden Lion Award in Venice, set off an all-night bidding war at the Toronto Film Festival, with Fox Searchlight besting such notables as Sony, Lionsgate, and The Weinstein Company to take home U.S. rights for $4 million.
With such mass acclaim for “The Wrestler,” it is somewhat curious that Vince McMahon, the Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment and the undisputed “king” of the wrestling industry, is said to be extremely unhappy with the film.
This past week the infamous wrestling promoter invited Aronofsky to privately screen the film for him at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. McMahon, whose struggling film production company, WWE Studios, also has a deal with Fox (one in which it pays the film giant to distribute its mostly straight-to-DVD fare through the Fox Atomic label), airs its TV show, “Friday Night Smackdown,” on the Fox-owned MyNetwork.
Reportedly, WWE has veto power over any wrestling-related advertising that runs during “Smackdown,” which has apparently made it difficult for Fox to advertise its current best Oscar contender on its own network’s top-rated show.
“It’s amusing but it’s not surprising,” says Writer/Producer/Director Richard O’Sullivan, who recently placed a sitcom set in the wrestling industry—entitled “Citizen Pain”—in development at the Toronto based Fight Network. “Vince McMahon is a wrestling promoter. His wrestling company, which his father left to him, is the only thing that’s ever been successful for him. His boxing events failed. His restaurant failed. Evel Knievel jumping the Snake River Canyon failed. He bought the Debbie Reynolds Hotel…that failed. He started a football league and a bodybuilding league and he’s made a bunch of movies which get horrible reviews and don’t turn a profit. The only one of his guys who actually did turn into an a-list star was Dwayne Johnson and that was only after he broke away from Vince, got out of ‘the wrestling vacuum,’ and took control of his own career. So I can see how Vince would be really pissed that a movie about ‘his’ industry—which thematically is out of step with his vision of the business—is getting great reviews and winning awards.”
“Smackdown,” which moved to MyNetwork two months ago after a long run on the CW Network, has traditionally been the top-rated show on “Fifth Network” outlets (meaning non-ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox networks). It began in 1999 on the old UPN Network, then moved to the upstart CW Network in 2006 when UPN merged with the rival WB. Despite posting good ratings, however, WWE programming commands a lower advertising rate than lesser-rated shows and earlier this year CW programming chief Dawn Ostroff cancelled McMahon’s show, saying it was “impossible to promote [any other shows] in or out of it.”
“Pro wrestling has been a staple in television for over sixty years,” says O’Sullivan. “But advertisers still look at it sometimes as this low-rent, trailer park trash sideshow, and the content of McMahon’s TV programs really doesn’t do a lot to change that perception. Aronofsky’s film has really given the wrestling biz a bit of a shot in the arm. People are looking at the industry and the people who work in it and they’re giving them some major respect. But as usual, it’s gonna take Vince McMahon all of five minutes to un-do that good will because as he has publicly stated…he’s in ‘the garbage business.’”
So, think anything will come of this SAG business? Should wrestlers be included?