I don't know much about wrestling. I mean, I respect it (while fake, it still takes athleticism to pull off), but it's just not my thing. I did enjoy the WWE Smackdown games though, but only because you could create your own characters. Like having Mario wrestle Batman for the title belt. Or being able to beat the shit out of your friend by proxy
This brings us to CROSSFADE, the new biopic about WWE superstar Chris Benoit, which will be directed by Lexi Alexander (the underrated PUNISHER: WARZONE, which you should all check out her episode on podcast How Did This Get Made, and GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS).
The synopsis is as follows:
WWE superstar Chris Benoit struggles to maintain his family life, while the pressures of wrestling cause him to spiral out of control. Benoit was a well respected world champion wrestler, who, over the course of a weekend in June 2007, murdered his wife and son before taking his own life. It was later discovered that Benoit was posthumously diagnosed with CTE, severe brain degeneration, believed to be associated with his career as a wrestler.
While Alexander has been mostly directing TV shows lately (like ARROW and SUPERGIRL), this seems like something that's right up her alley. A master mixed-martial artist herself, she seems to gravitate towards stories of the male id (like the aforementioned PUNISHER and HOOLIGANS), while also trying to find something deeper underneath.
And the story of Benoit is a tragic one. Hopefully the film will bring to light many issues regarding that much-maligned industry. Also focusing on a superstar near his prime will give it a different tone than that of Aronofsky's washed-up Randy "The Ram" Robinson from THE WRESTLER, so I'm looking forward to it.
Any WWE fans looking forward to this?
No release date has been set at this time.