According to website Moviepilot, SRC Films has casted Liev Schreiber to play infamous pro wrestler Chris Benoit in an upcoming film about the Benoit double-murder suicide. The film, currently entitled Crossface, will cover Benoit’s life throughout his career up to the murder suicide.
The film will be adapted from Matthew Randazzo’s book “Ring of Hell: The story of Chris Benoit and the fall of the pro wrestling industry”, a book so rife with errors, omissions and incorrect information it’s a surprise it was chosen to be adapted into a motion picture. Or maybe it isn’t a surprise.
The subject of Benoit is heart wrenching for most pro wrestling fans. For some, his name is a black mark on the industry and his actions changed it for the worse. For others, they feel the actions in the last few days of his life should not tarnish his work as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time. Either way, any discussion of good taste doesn’t matter when the film has been green lit.
Schreiber is an interesting choice to be cast. Likely best known for his role as Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a lot of wrestling fans immediately pick up on the fact that Benoit’s nickname was the Rabid Wolverine and the rival of Marvel Comic’s Wolverine will be playing him in a movie. What intrigues me more is that Schreiber is not your typical action actor but scales in at nearly six feet three inches. He’s a tall man. He’s more comparable to the height of Triple H and doesn’t really have a pro wrestler physique. Schreiber was previously reported to be in talks for the role so he might be interested in it. If you don’t know much about his career, I suggest watching RKO 281 where he played famed actor and director Orson Welles. Schreiber when given the right role is an incredible actor and if he’s doing this role to perform, he could hit it out of the park. If you have trouble finding it, watch the Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington. Still, his height bothers me.
Personally, I would have cast Jason Statham. Statham, an action actor, would transition easier to wrestling training. Statham is also only around five foot eight, a perfect height to play Benoit. The British accent could be worked out easily as every British actor in Hollywood knows how to speak like they are from North America. All he would have to do is put on more mass. Just a much more believable situation. All I can think of right now is 6’3” Schreiber hugging the actor who plays Eddie Guerrero (in my dream world it’d be Javier Bardem) who is properly cast at being around 5’6”. Or, Schreiber fights actors playing Triple H and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XX and towers over both of them. It’s just going to look awkward, but I still have confidence in Schreiber as a thespian.
What will be more interesting is exactly how big of a film SRC plans to make after casting a Hollywood actor as Benoit. The film is supposed to include portrayals of major wrestling personalities including Vince McMahon. Will Schreiber be the only known actor? Also, does the Crossface script take everything Randazzo wrote in his book for face value or have they done research of their own? Will any pro wrestlers from the past or present take part in the film? Is the film going to only focus on the negative aspects of Benoit’s life, including the murder suicide? Is it going to focus on steroids or head trauma as a major cause of Benoit’s breakdown? Will it consider the absurd alternative theories from Benoit fans who deny the truth? Just the idea of a major production actually showing the murder of a child has me questioning if this will ever complete or find a distributor. Either way, Sarah Coulter’s script now has an actor for Chris Benoit and the reaction of the wrestling industry to the film will be quite interesting.
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