10 Things You Didn't Know About The Wrestler

A troubled performer, battling inner demons to reach the top of a physical profession. That line could be used to describe both The Wrestler and Black Swan, so it's no surprise that the two movies started life as a single concept.

Years before either movie was ever made, The Wrestler and Black Swan originally began life as one movie in the mind of director Darren Aronofsky. A bizarre concept on the surface, the movie was said to focus on a love affair between a professional wrestler and a ballet dancer, presumably in a "Lady & The Tramp" style trope of high-class sophistication meets low-brow entertainment.

The films would eventually become two separate entities as Aronofsky believed the worlds of wrestling and ballet were too much to cover in one movie. However, on closer inspection, both movies share several thematic similarities: from the thread of performance art and physical expression to the inner torment of the lead characters and their ultimate dedication to their crafts.

While the movies went their separate ways, Randy The Ram would still find himself in a love affair with a dancer of sorts. However, that dancer would be of a far different kind - a stripped named Cassidy, played by Marisa Tomei.