“The Wrestler” wins Best Movie Award at Venice Films
VENICE, Italy (AFP) - - Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” starring gritty survivor Mickey Rourke, won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice film festival on Saturday.
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“I’d like to really thank the jury for making the right decision,” said Rourke, 51, making a comeback after years in the cinema wilderness with his performance as a has-been professional wrestler.
Aronofsky dedicated the award “to all the wrestlers we met along the way who are making 200 dollars a night and are willing to sacrifice their bodies and their souls for it.”
The film mirrors Rourke’s real-life experience as a boxer in the early 1990s and his regrets over an acting career that he says he “threw away” 15 years ago.
Aronofsky said: “We need to thank Mickey Rourke for opening up his heart and soul for the camera … and reminding the world what a great talent he is.”
Formidable with long blond hair that he dyes to keep the grey out, Rourke’s character, whose stage name is Ram, has been around so long that kids can buy action dolls and video games featuring his stunts.
After a heart attack reduces him to working at a supermarket deli counter, serving “hot horny housewives begging for your meat” in the words of his boss, Ram throws caution to the wind and climbs into the ring for more abuse and adulation.
Reflecting on his patchy career — though talk of a comeback began with his role as a hardened ex-con in the 2005 crime thriller “Sin City” — Rourke said: “Feeling shameful is not a good feeling, and usually you’re to blame for it.”
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