Fox Searchlight Picks The Wrestler!
In the first major buy of the Toronto International Film Festival, Fox Searchlight won an intense all-night bidding war for Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” which days before had won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Fest. Searchlight acquired U.S. rights for about $4 million.
Variety reports that,
After the packed screening of “The Wrestler” at Toronto’s Elgin last night, buyers huddled on the street and made their way to the Four Seasons Hotel to offer bids and pitch release plans. An Oscar-campaign for Mickey Rourke’s rough-and-tumble, vulnerable performance as a wrestler on the ropes was an essential component of the deal. Most distribs were offering a “Monster”-style Oscar-qualifying late-year platform with a wider release in January.
This seems like a film that you will start hearing a lot more about! I was recently conversing with a famous Memphis wrestler who still remains prominent in the WWE and asked him what he expected from the movie and he he basically told me that it didn’t interest him. I wonder if the talk of the movie and its current success will change his tune.
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