The Wrestler Producer Denies Main Character Was Based on Jake Roberts

– Evan Ginzburg, who was an associate producer on The Wrestler, spoke with WZ for a new interview discussing his new documentary and more. You can see some highlights below per the site:

On rumors that Randy “The Ram” was based on Jake Roberts: “That is kind of a myth that the movie is based on Jake Roberts. What happened was I took Darren Aronofsky and the executive producer, the money guy, and the screen writer to a convention. At the convention there were probably 20 wrestlers: Albano, Moolah, Mae Young, Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff and so on and… there was nobody there. It was sad. There was like, literally, a dozen or two dozen people there. There was probably more wrestlers than fans. Iron Sheik’s head was down on the table sleeping, literally sleeping in the middle of all of it. We just saw some very sad things along the way.”

On taking Aronofsky to see wrestling matches: “I took Aronofsky and his crew to some indie wrestling every weekend and the crowds varied from in the dozens to something sizable but for the most part the crowds were anemic and the gates were anemic. It was not glamorous for the most part. Along the way Darren would pick the brain of Johnny Valiant, who is now gone, Nikolai Volkoff, Greg Valentine, King Kong Bundy or even a hardcore wrestler like Louie Ramos. Ramos gave us ideas for the hardcore scenes with Necro Butcher. Darren got a feel for, “Wow, these guys generated a lot of money but they didn’t all make a lot of money.” They didn’t all save a lot of money. It varied because you have a guy like Bret Hart who did do well but some of them didn’t. After the glory some of these guys… it wasn’t so glamorous. They become security guards or they are pushing a broom, whatever the case may be.”