Crossface: 13 Actors Who Must Be Cast In Chris Benoit's Biopic
5. Ed O'Neill As Stu Hart
If Crossface is going to go full biopic (and you have to think there'll be some sort of wrestling "origin" involved - even with a younger actor playing Benoit in the late '80s), Stu Hart surely has to play a key role. The best approach to chronicling Benoit's time training at the Hart dungeon would probably see Stu Hart and Bruce Hart combined into one professional paternal figure (for stream-lining at the very least).
And there's something very compelling about the idea of famous screen patriarch Ed O'Neill playing the notoriously fiery Hart, showing his over-bearing personality, the way he tortured new recruits and pushed his sons to the limit. That side of Hart's mentoring will be important to the film's narrative: after all, there is some suggestion that Benoit's relationship with his own son followed similar lines, and his in-ring persona around 2007 certainly drew something of his experience under Hart.
Clearly, Benoit's story has space for two father figures: as well as Stu Hart as his professional paternal influence, Michael Benoit will no doubt play a key role in the story. JK Simmons should have that role sewn up.