Wrestling with Film
When watching a movie and getting involved with the characaters, sometimes you recognize the actors and sometimes you don’t, but you know the people playing those characters are all actors… right?
These craftsmen of the silver screen have rich histories, sometimes from television and sometimes from theatre. All the men and women who bring dimension to your favorite movies have learned their chops somewhere. Even the guy in the background of the coffee shop scene has a SAG card and was probably waiting around for 8 hours just to get his 30 seconds of screen time. It’s all good in the neighborhood of acting, but what about those big guys? The bouncers, the bullies, the tough guys, you know the type. Where did those guys come from?
Sometimes the answer isn’t acting school or off Broadway. Motion pictures have a long history of using professional wrestlers as characters. They might not be the best actors, but they are reallybig and that’s what the part calls for… big guys. Lots of these guys have bigger than life personalities that they’ve honed week in and week out on television, telling their opponents, “I’m going to break you in two“. These gigantors have to tell compelling stories both inside and outside of the squared circle. The art of interview is part of wrestling theatrics, and it goes a long way when these guys have to get their storylines across to fans in a short period of time (before the next match). Who can forget the immortal words of Hulk Hogan, “last stop meatball“, as he played Thunderlips in "Rocky III". After that movie, the Hulkster reinvented the pro wrestling industry, and he’s not the only big man to bounce off the ropes and into film either. The biggest was the Eighth Wonder of the World, Andre the Giant. This friendly French giant is fondly remembered as the GIANT in the movie, "The Princess Bride".
Now, both Hulk and Andre are not the most well-rounded actors, but they both have a quality that met the needs of their respective movies. In the case of Hogan, what he lacked in skill, he made up for in charisma. Andre the Giant is a man who could barely grasp the English language, but it was his freakish size that made him such an asset. You might also remember Andre as Bigfoot in the "Six Million Dollar Man" television show.
The opposite of those men and perhaps the most skilled wrestler turned actor is Dwayne “The Rock“ Johnson. Despite Dwayne’s deep wrestling heritage with his father being Rocky Johnson and his grandfather being Chief Peter Miavia, he found his true calling in the film industry. His father and grandfather were both well respected wrestlers in their era, but The Rock had the “it” factor more than any other wrestler that tried to make the transition. His natural talent lifted him high above “the rock bottom” and “the people’s elbow” wrestling moves that he was used to and brought him from the wrestling ring to the big screen. The Rock has already made his mark in Hollywood with movies that include, "The Scorpion King", "Get Shorty", "Escape from Witch Mountain", "Get Smart", and most recently "The Tooth Fairy". Do you smell what The Rock is cooking?
Now, The Rock isn’t the first and won’t be the last professional wrestler to try his hand at acting. Acting seems like a natural progression for some wrestlers. Let’s take Rowdy Roddy Piper as an example. In the World Wrestling Federation, Piper hosted a talk show called "Piper’s Pit" in the 1980’s and was famous for trash talking and starting feuds with not only fellow wrestlers but also celebrities. Piper became infamous after doing a wrestling angle with MTV pop star, Cindy Lauper, where he seemingly kicked her across the ring (not really). Things escalated, and after Hulkamania was born, Hulk Hogan brought in his "Rocky III" co-star Mr. T and went against Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff, and the first Wrestlemania was created. He took his over-the-top wrestling persona and applied it to movies like John Carpenter’s horror classic, "They Live". Piper also did the B-movie, "Hell Comes to Frogtown", which for awhile was one of those flicks played super late at night on cable television. Another one of his films was the wrestling themed “Bodyslam: The Movie” that starred Dick Benedict. You might be better off watching a re-run of The A-Team.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor turned Politician, is famous for tons of action movies that include "Predator" and "The Running Man". What do those two movies have in common? Jesse Ventura, who is also an actor turned Politician, co-stars in both of those films along side the "Governator". Jesse isn’t just an actor turned Politician, he's a pro-wrestler turned actor turned Politician. He started out as Jesse “The Body” Ventura in wrestling and ended up Jesse “The Mind” Ventura as Governor of Minnesota, but somewhere in between Jesse did have a movie career. Today, Jesse can be seen on TruTV with his cutting edge reality show "Conspiracy Theory" where he dives into topics from the 911 terrorist attacks to secret societies inside our government.
Now, Arnold wasn’t the only action star from the 80’s to team up with a professional wrestler on multiple occasions. Sylvester Stallone, of course, fought Hulk Hogan in "Rocky III", but he also tangled with former NWA World Champion, Terry Funk in two movies. Once in the 70’s wrestling movie, "Paradise Alley", and then later in the 80’s arm wrestling movie, "Over The Top". Terry Funk was also in the Patrick Swayze movie, "Roadhouse". Speaking of action movies... did you know that Snake Plissken had his own dealings with a pro-wrestler? In "Escape from New York", Snake’s foe in the apocalyptic cage fight was a wrestler often defined by his thick mustache, Ox Baker! You know it’s going to be a good fight when the guy’s name is Ox! Even the most famous of all action heroes, James Bond, had an encounter with a pro-wrestler. Sean Connery played James Bond in "Goldfinger" and faced off with the hat throwing Oddjob, maybe the most remembered henchmen of all Bond movies. Oddjob was Toshiyuki “Harold” Sakata who wrestled under the name Tosh Togo in the 50’s and 60’s. The villain, or heel by wrestling terminology, seems to be a familiar role for these muscle bound anti-hero’s, but the action star isn’t the only one in harms way. There’s a small step from action hero to super hero where the pro-wrestling nemesis is concerned. In the movie, “The Punisher”, we are treated to house-wrecking, knock-down brawling between The Punisher and pro-wrestler Kevin Nash. In the first installment of the “Spiderman” movies, when Peter Parker first dons the mask of the web slinger to make a few extra bucks, it’s Randy “Macho Man” Savage who he’s trapped in the cage against.
Let no genre be untouched. Horror movies have a long list of scary looking monsters, but which one’s used to where spandex tights? When I was a kid, I always enjoyed those controversial Christmas movies, like “Silent Night, Deadly Night” but a few years back, pro-wrestler Bill Goldberg took the killer Santa Claus character to the next level in, “Santa’s Slay”. You all know Tyler Mane as the new Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s recent “Halloween” movies, but he has an interesting past. About 20 years ago, Tyler Mane stepped inside an NWA wrestling ring as Woman’s (Nancy Sullivan) bodyguard Nitron! For those of you who don’t remember, Nancy Sullivan was the wife of Chris Benoit, and victim of the murder/suicide a few years back, R.I.P. In what many call the worst movie ever made, “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, former pro-wrestler Tor Johnson played the detective turned zombie. He wrestled as the Super Swedish Angel back in the 1930’s and 40’s. The Tor Johnson Halloween mask went on to become one of the post popular Halloween masks of all time. When casting for the Tim Burton biopic, “Ed Wood”, there was one name that kept coming up for the role of Tor Johnson, and that was another professional wrestler, George “The Animal” Steele. Ed Wood is an awesome movie, and George Steele does an incredible job immortalizing the late Tor Johnson.
Now, these men will probably never win “The Oscar” for their contributions in film, though Mickey Rourke did come close in his portrayal of a down and out professional wrestler, in last year's critically acclaimed film, “The Wrestler”. In general, these men are great athletes but most are not great actors. Professional wrestlers are great entertainers that have left a lasting mark on the fabric of motion pictures. I mean, who else are we going to get to play the larger than life monsters, maniacs, thugs, and gang members that we love to hate?
Original published in 2010
Obsessed with Film ( now WhatCulture )
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