http://www.movieline.com/...he-wwf.php
Kurt Angle on Warrior, His Longtime Acting Ambition and Following The Rock Out of the WWE
Kurt Angle that you get from the ring persona he’s projected over the years as a star of the WWE (née WWF) and now TNA Wrestling, where he’s currently the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. The real-life former Olympic wrestler has played off his 1996 gold medal win as wrestling’s bona fide “American Hero” since his 1998 WWF debut, juggling multiple wrestling companies and countless ring titles while a version of his own personal life, warped through the wrestling world’s faux-realist backstage lens, is broadcast every week to millions of fans. But what Angle really wants to do — what he wanted to do even before pro wrestling came calling — is act. Seriously act.
It’s a curious version of the real pro wrestler
That’s just one revelation the burgeoning thespian Angle shared when he rang Movieline to discuss Warrior, his latest film, one in which he has nary a line but commands the world’s attention as Koba, the fearsome Russian champ standing between dueling brothers Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton in an all-important MMA tournament. For Angle, multiple roads led to his joining the cast of Gavin O’Connor’s sports drama: His intimidating physical presence, for sure, but also the fact that he’s long wanted to stretch his acting muscles and acknowledges that he may not be quite ready to launch into bigger roles.
Read on as Movieline speaks with Kurt Angle about his circuitous route from the Olympics to the WWF to acting, how the WWE may have stifled his film career in the wake of fellow wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s own career transition, how mulling a switch to UFC helped him train for Warrior, and where to find the Internet’s best real-life example of high emotions and tears that the masculine world of ring sports has ever seen.
I first knew you from wrestling of course, so it’s been interesting to follow your acting career as it’s developed. What was the impetus for you wanting to make that transition into acting?
Believe it or not, I kind of went into professional wrestling so I could get an avenue into acting.
You’re kidding — that sounds like the most brutal way to break into this business.
[Laughs] It certainly is! You know, the hard part for me was being an Olympic gold medalist and having that persona, you don’t see too many Olympic gold medalists go into acting. It’s actually even more difficult. You’re not taken very seriously and you’re looked at in a different light, so it was kind of hard for me to go straight from Olympics into acting. I tried, it just didn’t work out. Pro wrestling was there and I was good at it, thank God. I started getting a lot of offers but unfortunately at WWE I was under a tight leash. I think it had a lot to do with The Rock making the transition, and me possibly being the next guy — you know, the company didn’t want to lose another top performer. So I believe that had a lot to do with me not having the opportunity. So when I went to TNA, I started getting the opportunity to do some of those things.
So while pro wrestling offered you a career, it was also limiting.
Yeah. Without a doubt.
How much were you acting before beginning your wrestling career with the WWE?
I was taking classes and I was getting very serious about it. I was also sportscasting — I was a sportscaster in Pittsburgh for Fox, just trying to get in front of the camera a little bit. Then pro wrestling came around and I took a shot at that, and I didn’t realize I was going to become that good. I made a lot of money, thank God, and I stuck with it, but every time I had a movie where my name would come up for some reason, I wasn’t allowed to do it due to scheduling reasons in the WWE. So with TNA, they give me the opportunity to go ahead and do movies and if it conflicts with the schedule they work around it. It’s a much better situation for me. So I actually signed a new three-year deal today with TNA. I’m going to stick with TNA. It certainly sounds like a better situation for what you want to do. But what I also think is interesting about you transitioning to acting from wrestling is that your pro wrestling career borrowed so much from your personal life — it theatricalized it into a persona that was distinctly a persona yet to close to your own life.
Considering your attempts to break into acting before and during your wrestling career, what kinds of roles were you looking for when Warrior came along?
You play an MMA champion in Warrior who’s sort of like the Ivan Drago to Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy’s dual Rockys.
What I like about that is that it means there’s not necessarily an evil villain in Warrior.
Why do you think MMA is having its turn in the spotlight now?
Did you have to train a lot more than usual and in different ways to play Koba?
Considering your more serious acting pursuits, did you ever think, ‘Maybe I should play an office worker,’ or something like that — characters who aren’t action-oriented, who are unrelated to this realm of fighting?
Yes, without a doubt. I really have been trying to get in movies with smaller parts, just to get myself in there and get more practice, and not have to take the big lead. In Dylan Dog I was one of the co-stars, and I had a pretty good part in that movie. But I’m looking for smaller parts in bigger movies. I think that’s the best way to get in there and show people what you can do. But me right now, taking on a lead role in a huge budgeted movie — I don’t think I’m really ready for that right now. What I think I need to do is take the smaller parts and make my craft a little bit better.
I really respect that. Speaking of craft, in Warrior you acted opposite two great up-and-coming dramatic actors, Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy.
Joel and Tom — tremendous.
Were you able to give them advice on the physicality of their performances?
In the film, Joel and Tom’s characters go through intensely personal stuff while in the ring, which we see only because we’re the audience of the film. Have you seen similarly emotional moments happen yourself in the ring with other fighters dealing with such intense emotional things?
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Something funny for the Cena haters!
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Angle looks like he could be a brotha in that picture
Since he took on the more aggressive persona, he seems like someone who would legitimately beat the shit out of you "We may deify or demonize them but not ignore them. And we call them genius, because they are the people who change the world." | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
It's cuz of that scruffy ass beard and the partially bald head, ain't it? [Edited 9/9/11 20:37pm] | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Wrestling Jesus is back to spit wisdom on all of the CM Punk fans!
This dude cracks me up! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I haven't laughed once at this dudes videos, he's corny as fuck! JERKIN' EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!!! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I thought that was the Rock's younger brother before taking a second look. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Paris, this one is just for you!
Wrestling Jesus on why Jeff Hardy SUCKS!
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Yeah right!! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Did anyone catch Jeff Hardy's little return speech on TNA on Thursday? If not, here it is:
This is part of what makes TNA unbearable to watch. They keep adding in bullshit crowd noise and it sounds so completely unnatural!! You could sometimes barely hear Jeff over the crowd sweetening, all because they want to make it sound like the crowd's really into it. Hey TNA! If you want the people there to make a lot of noise as if they're into it and save yourself some time when it comes to editing in post, DO SOMETHING FUCKIN' ENTERTAINING THAT ALSO MAKES SENSE!!!!! Until then, you will ALWAYS be and be looked at as a second or even third rate knockoff of a wrestling company. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Triple H interview (#3, I think?):
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
i almost bought a ticekt 2 survivor series but pulled out cause the fuckin fees! shit i would be better off paying for the ppv!
i had 2 laugh whil watching smackdown last night whn mark henry was fucking orton up and the camera showed kids in the audience shockedd i thought about what wrestling jesus was saying it's so damn true man, he has such an amazing body of music that it's sad to see him constrict it down to the basics. he's too talented for the lineup he's doing. estelle 81 | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Jeff Hardy's a jackass. JERKIN' EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!!! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
LMAO!!! It is true, isn't it??
I will say, though, I didn't bother watching Smackdown, and I probably won't. The spoilers looked like absolute shit, and I'm not enthralled with the Henry/Orton program (two ppl I really couldn't give 2 shits about) at all, so I decided to not waste my time. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
And the stupidity (them thinking WE'RE stupid) continues...
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Seriously what is the company that is gonna rebel against the corporate wrestling world? I'm guessing the MMA/UFC is the one but I don't know... | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Watching the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD. Paul Heyman may be a terrible businessman, but he's also a genius. TNA needs him on their team and get rid of Bischoff/Hogan "We may deify or demonize them but not ignore them. And we call them genius, because they are the people who change the world." | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Yup. I'd love to see a creative team in TNA consisting of Heyman, Gabe Sapolsky, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, and Dave Lagana, but Dixie Carter isn't that smart. JERKIN' EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!!! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
What is making me scratch my head is why they waited until Mark Henry tturned 48 to make a beast and a number 1 contender for the world title. Fuck i remember when Orton was a heel and Mark was a fan favorite and they had a match, they made Henry look weak and dumb. He also was soft in a matchup against Sheamus when he was a heel. What is flooring me is how Henry became cock diesel all of a sudden after Big Show plugged his ass with that one hand assault a few months ago. Now Henry has put Big Show and Kane on injured reserve for the rest of the year, It will be interesting to see if they let Mark old ass win the title. Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Lol! Henry's only 40, but I definitely get your point. I just can't take him all that serious. He's had Lord knows how many monster pushes that started and were stopped outta nowhere. And he's quite simply boring as fuck. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
4 some stupid reason they have always built up the likes of henry, show, kane, and even khali into these huge monsters 2 wreck shit but come off as lame puppy dogs man, he has such an amazing body of music that it's sad to see him constrict it down to the basics. he's too talented for the lineup he's doing. estelle 81 | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
It would make the show and company so much better
I considered buying the Best of Nitro DVD set today but decided not to. Does it have a documentary or just matches straight through?
OT to paris: Did you watch the series finale to Entourage? I didn't like it at all "We may deify or demonize them but not ignore them. And we call them genius, because they are the people who change the world." | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
The Best of Nitro DVD doesn't have a documentary, it's just matches hosted by DDP. I really like the set. There's some really good matches on there and if you watched back then, it's great for nostalgia.
As for the Entorage finale, it definitely was rushed and forced. It was definitely unrealistic that all the conflicts of the show just got resolved in 30 minutes. And why the fuck should we care about Vince and his woman? Not gonna spoil what happened to them for people who haven't seen it but why should we care about this woman?
She was only in the last 3 or 4 episodes and she was only in the Finale at the end.
It just seemed like the producers, writers, and everyone else surrounding the show were saying "Let's just get this shit over with so we can make the movie"! JERKIN' EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!!! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I wholeheartedly agree. The finale should've been at least an hour or so. Not even 30 seconds. They zip that shit up in 22
The whole thing was BS "We may deify or demonize them but not ignore them. And we call them genius, because they are the people who change the world." | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
OT the only show that should have been longer was True blood
okay back 2 raw man, he has such an amazing body of music that it's sad to see him constrict it down to the basics. he's too talented for the lineup he's doing. estelle 81 | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I don't know how many times Hogan has jumped the shark but the guy's got a show on TruTV mentoring MIDGET WRESTLERS! | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
he jumped it the minute he agreed 2 do that VH1 show lol man, he has such an amazing body of music that it's sad to see him constrict it down to the basics. he's too talented for the lineup he's doing. estelle 81 | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I actually think he jumped it when he did Mr. Nanny in '93. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
what no thunderlips? man, he has such an amazing body of music that it's sad to see him constrict it down to the basics. he's too talented for the lineup he's doing. estelle 81 | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |