Director Darren Aronofsky recently sat down with the Daily to talk about his upcoming film, "The Wrestler," starring Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei (interviewed for yesterday's Weekender section). The film follows the life of ex-pro wrestler Randy "the Ram" Robinson, who now makes his living by performing at amateur events. In the interview, Aronofsky spoke about his background, explained his innovative techniques and defended his incorporation of clichés.
Christopher Rivlin: How did you get into filmmaking?
Darren Aronofsky: Well, I didn't start out taking film at college. My roommate was an animator, and at the end of the year, I'd end up with a bunch of papers with B-minuses on them while my roommate ended up with a movie, so it was tough. As a result, I took a drawing class with Will Wrightman, and Will was an amazing teacher, so I took a year of drawing and it completely changed the way I looked at the world. It went on from there, and what I learned had a huge impact on this film.
CR: You've described directing as a triangle between time, money and creativity. Could you talk a little bit about what the triangle was like for this film?
DA: Money was the big problem, and a money issue turns into a time issue. We only had 35 days to shoot, which is fine for an independent film, but it gets difficult when you have action sequences because we had about two days [for] each of the wrestling sequences. But we had a great creative team, so together we were able to figure out a way to make the best of it. Whenever you have a limited amount of time and money, it's all about using clever ways to get by. I think my whole visual style comes out of not having much money. I never have enough money.
CR: So you feel it makes you more creative?
DA: Absolutely. You know, big problems with films happen when you have too much money and it just gets wasted. If you have limitations, you have to learn how to turn them into positives. That's the secret.
CR: What motivated you to film so much of this movie from behind Randy's head? It seems to give the film an air of a documentary. Is this what you were going for?
DA: Well, exactly that. I kind of call it a "proactive" documentary style ... Since it was a narrative, it was also orchestrated, and a lot of the movement stuff was discussed with me and Mickey and the camera person, so we all worked together. Like [Tomei's] dances -- we kind of figured out the dances but wanted her to be free to do some stuff. We had a real sense of where she was going, so we were able to move and not have light shadows cast on her. It was a kind of marriage of documentary and narrative. Following him just makes sense because it's hard to shoot someone well while walking backwards with a handheld camera, so we just sort of took it as part of the style and stuck with it.
CR: Was there any specific inspiration for Mickey Rourke's character?
DA: His character is really an amalgamation of lots of different characters. The sad thing is the more of these guys we met, the more clichés we ran into, as so many of their lives ended up a similar way. Even the guys who kept it together and have a family, etc. -- they all had similar stories and all knew someone who was going through a similar thing and dealing with the physical damage that had been done to them. It was great; the other night, Rowdy Roddy Piper showed up at a screening and he loved it. He broke down and cried in Mickey's arms, so he was psyched that this story was finally told.
CR: Can you talk a little bit about the idea of glory and pride with the characters depicted in the film? You have these two characters who are trying to exhibit this pride and glory with their bodies, which are clearly fading.
DA: I always try to leave people with a mixed bag of emotions. One of the producers reminded me last night that this is a film about a guy that wants to be loved. At first, he wants to be loved by the audience, but when he can't do that anymore, he tries to be loved by these two women in his life. When he can't make that work, he goes back to the only place he feels he can be loved.
CR: You talked about clichés before. What role do you think narrative clichés play in a piece that is meant to be fiction but also have this realistic edge?
DA: I'm not sure. Hubert Selby, Jr., who wrote "Requiem for a Dream" [the novel, 1978], used to say that it's called a cliché for a reason, because it's mostly true. He said there is something about clichés that is important, so I think it's all about executing clichés -- that if you execute a cliché in a cliché way, you're screwed, but if you do it in an original way, it can actually be very poignant.
