MovieChat Forums > Ready to Rumble (2000) Discussion > Ebert was right...

Ebert was right...

posted 14 years ago by Sonnengott
2 replies | jump to latest

...when he wrote that Oliver Platt's role should have been played by a real wrestler. Unlike "The Wrestler" this is a comedy and does not require really good acting and many wrestlers are able to act at that level. Maybe they didn't want to "burn" a current WCW star by having him play a role that fans could mistake for his TV character/real life person, but Platt was totally miscast. A guy like "King" would not have the fans cheer for him, but they'd turn on him even if he was wrestling as a babyface like they did on many occasions when a booker tried to force feed them bullcrap gimmicks like "The Dynamic Dudes".

[–] adamjoshjay 14 years ago

I thought Oliver Platt was awesome in this movie. I would have been terrible to have an actual wrestler play that part, IMO. Can you imagine Goldberg in the lead role?

[–] undedavenger 14 years ago

He was based off a mix of Ric Flair and Jerry Lawler. Neither of which "look" the way people think wrestlers should. He played the beer-bellied egomaniac perfectly well.

"I got three words for you, baby: 9-1-1!"

I guess the meek can inherit the Earth now. It looks like the stupid aren't doing anything with it.