STFU Donnie
Occasional Pre-Show
Last year, Kevin Nash was doing press for "Magic Mike" and was asked his opinion about "The Wrestler". He enjoyed it, but said the one thing he would love to see in a film is the ride to the top, followed by the crash as opposed to "The Wrestler" which was all about after the fall from glory. Then he joked that since he helped Channing Tatum make a movie about his former career, Nash was going to make him return the favor and help make Nash's movie.
Now this is opinion, but making a FICTIONALIZED movie based on The Kliq is a film that I think would be good...and not just "wrestling fan" good, but an actual story that would appeal to a broader audience.
Think about the dynamics. You have a Nash-type character, a guy who's extremely smart and funny, who while not as skilled as his friends, is a genetic freak who succeeds based in part on something out of his control. You have a Shawn-type character, an underdog who the girls go crazy for and is simply the best performer around, but one who treats people terribly and slowly falls apart under the pressure he puts on himself. You have a Razor-type character, a guy who really is the complete package of size, look, and talent, but because of his demons is incredibly insecure and ultimately self-destructs. You have a X-Pac-type character who is too small for the business but busts his ass and makes a place for himself. Then you toss in a HHH-type character, who joins the crew and is hyper-ambitious, all business, all the time, and the antithesis of the partying nature of the other four.
The dynamic of five friends all trying to get to the top in a cutthroat business. The friendship, mixed with competition, both among themselves and the other wrestlers. The pressure to be great and to fill arenas and draw money. Life at home, with wives and kids left behind. The grind of the road. The party lifestyle that starts out as fun and games or simple pain suppression, that slowly gets out of control. The groupies, the ribs, the fights. Even if you hate all these guys, their story is awfully unique and filled with massive highs and lows. But I wouldn't want a straight biopic, rather I would just use them as templates for a fictional account as it would blow to be tethered to making an actual, historical account.
Anyway, this got me thinking:
1) Most smaller studios start out making critically acclaimed movies. Small budget films that didn't have a huge advertising budget and required reviews and word of mouth to sell. The small budgets meant that it was easier to see a return on the investment and the studio built it's name as a place for quality. Only once they had that reputation, experience, and a model for success, did they start venturing into the larger budget and more strictly commercial film market. Directors do the same thing: You make The Usual Suspects to get to X-Men, You make Memento to get to Batman.
But WWE studios went right to the commercial film market, creating vehicles for wrestlers to become actors. And only now are they beginning to produce movies without wrestlers involved in a staring role. I'm just surprised that WWE would not have at least considered using the very thing that they knew best to make a story that showed wrestlers as human, especially since they owned the tools (rings, full arenas, and every technical aspect) to make a better wrestling film than anybody else.
Granted, you might need to touch on the bad old days, but it could always be presented as the past...a past WWE cleaned up. Besides, WWE was happy to use Mickey Rourke's success from The Wrestler on WWE TV and if not for publicists worried about Oscar campaigns, Rourke and Chris Jericho likely work Wrestlemania together. So even if Vince doesn't like the "dark side" of wrestling, he was fine using it if it made him money or garnered WWE mainstream attention.
2) How on earth did Vince McMahon and his massive ego not look at the commercial and critical success of "The Wrestler", a film about HIS industry, and not immediately think that not only was there a market for wrestling in film, but he would do it better, make more money, and actually win an Oscar with his wrestling film?
So the question is, why do you think Vince never tried to make a serious minded wrestling movie for WWE Studios, especially in light of the success of "The Wrestler"?
Now this is opinion, but making a FICTIONALIZED movie based on The Kliq is a film that I think would be good...and not just "wrestling fan" good, but an actual story that would appeal to a broader audience.
Think about the dynamics. You have a Nash-type character, a guy who's extremely smart and funny, who while not as skilled as his friends, is a genetic freak who succeeds based in part on something out of his control. You have a Shawn-type character, an underdog who the girls go crazy for and is simply the best performer around, but one who treats people terribly and slowly falls apart under the pressure he puts on himself. You have a Razor-type character, a guy who really is the complete package of size, look, and talent, but because of his demons is incredibly insecure and ultimately self-destructs. You have a X-Pac-type character who is too small for the business but busts his ass and makes a place for himself. Then you toss in a HHH-type character, who joins the crew and is hyper-ambitious, all business, all the time, and the antithesis of the partying nature of the other four.
The dynamic of five friends all trying to get to the top in a cutthroat business. The friendship, mixed with competition, both among themselves and the other wrestlers. The pressure to be great and to fill arenas and draw money. Life at home, with wives and kids left behind. The grind of the road. The party lifestyle that starts out as fun and games or simple pain suppression, that slowly gets out of control. The groupies, the ribs, the fights. Even if you hate all these guys, their story is awfully unique and filled with massive highs and lows. But I wouldn't want a straight biopic, rather I would just use them as templates for a fictional account as it would blow to be tethered to making an actual, historical account.
Anyway, this got me thinking:
1) Most smaller studios start out making critically acclaimed movies. Small budget films that didn't have a huge advertising budget and required reviews and word of mouth to sell. The small budgets meant that it was easier to see a return on the investment and the studio built it's name as a place for quality. Only once they had that reputation, experience, and a model for success, did they start venturing into the larger budget and more strictly commercial film market. Directors do the same thing: You make The Usual Suspects to get to X-Men, You make Memento to get to Batman.
But WWE studios went right to the commercial film market, creating vehicles for wrestlers to become actors. And only now are they beginning to produce movies without wrestlers involved in a staring role. I'm just surprised that WWE would not have at least considered using the very thing that they knew best to make a story that showed wrestlers as human, especially since they owned the tools (rings, full arenas, and every technical aspect) to make a better wrestling film than anybody else.
Granted, you might need to touch on the bad old days, but it could always be presented as the past...a past WWE cleaned up. Besides, WWE was happy to use Mickey Rourke's success from The Wrestler on WWE TV and if not for publicists worried about Oscar campaigns, Rourke and Chris Jericho likely work Wrestlemania together. So even if Vince doesn't like the "dark side" of wrestling, he was fine using it if it made him money or garnered WWE mainstream attention.
2) How on earth did Vince McMahon and his massive ego not look at the commercial and critical success of "The Wrestler", a film about HIS industry, and not immediately think that not only was there a market for wrestling in film, but he would do it better, make more money, and actually win an Oscar with his wrestling film?
So the question is, why do you think Vince never tried to make a serious minded wrestling movie for WWE Studios, especially in light of the success of "The Wrestler"?
, for hyping movies or outside projects or whatever on Raw. They'd probably get hammered over this as well but probably not as much if said wrestling movie doesn't include family friendly, corny comedy.
