Darren Arnofsky explains what inspired "The Wrestler" movie

Director Darren Arnofsky said he was not a big fan of wrestling growing up, but he came up with the idea of doing a film called "The Wrestler" when he graduated from film school. "The Wrestler was my idea. When I graduated film school in ‘92/‘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. He’s also a writer.

"I wasn’t 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." To read the full interview, visit SlashFilm.com. [Thanks to Dot Net reader Rob P.]

Powell's POV: Arnofsky also revealed that Mickey Rourke did his own stunts and revealed why Nicholas Cage stepped aside. There is also a review of the movie available at SlashFilm.com.