Here’s the trailer for the forthcoming film starring Mickey Rourke entitled “The Wrestler”. It has received universally glowing praise from legit film types–as in “Academy Award contender” type praise. In particular, Mickey Rourke has been singled out for his performance–you can see from the trailer alone how excellent he is in the role. First of all, here’s the official plot summary:

Back in the late 80s, Randy The Ram Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, twenty years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of diehard wrestling fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey. Estranged from his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and unable to sustain any real relationships, Randy lives for the thrill of the show and the adoration of his fans. However, a heart attack forces him into retirement. As his sense of identity starts to slip away, he begins to evaluate the state of his life — trying to reconnect with his daughter, and striking up a blossoming romance with an exotic dancer (Marisa Tomei) who is ready to start a new life. Yet all this cannot compare to the allure of the ring and passion for his art, which threatens to pull Randy The Ram back into his world of wrestling. Director Darren Aronofsky presents a powerful portrait of a battered dreamer, who despite himself and the odds stacked against him, lives to be a hero once again in the only place he considers home inside the ring. THE WRESTLER had its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Golden Lion at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.

Here’s the trailer–look for a quick shot of Ron “The Truth” Killings. We’ve read a lot of the press on the film and now that we’ve seen the trailer we concur–it looks excellent. Look for a full review upon its release on December 17, 2008.

UPDATE: The LA Times blogs about the Oscar potential of the film, particularly Rourke’s performance. Check out those names and performances he’s being compared with:

Rourke — whose career-best performance as a tough guy with a fractured soul has generated comparisons in reviews and at Q&As to Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” (1954), Paul Newman in “The Hustler” (1961), and Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull” (1980) — is apparently the leading cheerleader of the new approach. From the start, he has been vocal about how indebted he is to Aranofsky for offering him the chance to prove he could still act; he has developed a particularly close friendship with Wood, who he has come to regard as a daughter-figure (which is why he recently lashed out about the insinuation that he was romantically involved with her, before apologizing for his poor choice of words); and he is generally grateful for the career revival that this film seems to have offered him. I was there as he was leaving the “Milk” after-party (see, he’s not a homophobe!) in New York on Tuesday night, when someone said to him, “Mickey, I love ‘The Wrestler’!” His response, “I do too.”

Can crowd-pleaser ‘The Wrestler’ fight its way to a best picture nod? @ LA Times blogs