Casting The Roddy Piper Film

While mainstream audiences seem to be turning away from professional wrestling at an alarming rate, the wider world has seemingly never been more interested in the dark stories that accentuate the industry's history. Dark Side of the Ring has shown that, and an increasingly large list of biopics seems to be on the horizon. According to director Kyle Newacheck, a Roddy Piper film is almost certainly around the corner.

One of pro wrestling's greatest characters, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper left a trail of bloody noses and shocked audiences behind him, whether as a detested heel in the '80s or as a beloved badass babyface a decade later. Piper died in 2015 but he will never be forgotten.

Casting a Roddy Piper film is no easy task, such is the tremendous range of personalities that made their mark on his life. Wrestling history is littered with characters that were so successful because of how unique they were (and are), so finding the right people for those roles is no easy task.

Still, good to give it a go, if only for the charm in trying to find someone to accurately portray Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine. Such opportunities don't come around every single day.

Roddy Piper's rebellious nature was developed early on, and it was a spiky relationship with his father that set the future Hot Rod on the road to international superstardom. Real name Roderick Toombs, Piper grew up in Manitoba as his dad (Stanley Toombs) worked for the RCMP (the Mounties, not The Mountie), a difficult arrangement that made for a fractured relationship. It is only somewhat ironic that Piper won his only singles championship in WWE by defeating The Mountie.

The final nail in the family coffin came when Piper was expelled from school for carrying a switchblade with him, an event that eventually saw Roddy leave home and live in youth hostels for a while. Little is known about his father outside of these vague details, but it is clear that any story about the rebellious Hot Rod must start with this relationship.

There are few actors with as intimate an understanding of the professional wrestling business than former WCW World Heavyweight Champion David Arquette, a formerly-maligned performer who has experienced something of a renaissance in recent times (culminating in the tremendous 'You Cannot Kill David Arquette' documentary). Arquette would be a great pick for this potentially grating role.