The Wrestler - 2008

Plot: A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.

Story: This is a drama about an aging professional wrestler, decades past his prime, who now barely gets by working small wrestling shows in VFW halls and as a part-time grocery store employee. As he faces health problems that may end his wrestling career for good he attempts to come to terms with his life outside the ring: by working full time at the grocery store, trying to reconcile with the daughter he abandoned in childhood and forming a closer bond with a stripper he has romantic feelings for. He struggles with his new life and an offer of a high-profile rematch with his 1980s arch-nemesis, The Ayatollah, which may be his ticket back to stardom.

Did you know: Darren Aronofsky revealed that Mickey Rourke was the first choice to play Randy "The Ram" Robinson but the studio wanted Nicolas Cage. Aronofsky fought to have Rourke as "The Ram", and ultimately won out.