Darren Aronofsky Speaks on the Inspirtation Behind “The Wrestler”

Darren Aronofsky, the director of the now critically acclaimed film “The Wrestler,” recently spoke on the film, the idea for it, and what inspired him to make it. He said, “The Wrestler was my idea. When I graduated film school in â~92/â~93, one day I wrote a list of ten ideas for films in my diary. And one of them was called The Wrestler. When The Fountain shut down the first time I started to think about it. I knew I wanted to do a wrestling picture. I teamed up my producer on this film, Scott Franklin, who was a wrestling fan, a bigger wrestling fan than me, and he loved the idea. Heâs also a writer…I wasnât a huge fan as a kid. I went to one match at Madison Square Garden with my best friend and my dad. I remember we all lost our voices from screaming so loud. Hulk Hogan was a bad guy and I remember Tony Atlas lifting up Hulk Hogan and dropping him on his balls on the top rope. We went crazy, it was great. I think I went to a couple of other little matches at veterans halls. So it was in my head a bit, but I was never a crazy fan.” You can read the entire interview at this link.