It’s so subtle that you could say it’s subliminal but Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke pay respects to the Actors Studio, the selective club where most of the talent that creates the Hollywood magic comes from.
The Wrestler was filmed partly in Hasbrouck Heights New Jersey. At the 09:28 mark of the movie Randy is seen walking the street about to arrive where he is fighting that evening.
09:28 Randy can be seen walking to his match. The “Pioneer Club” is CGI with the front awning creating a very effect with the building in the background.
This very subtle effect is something often hard to spot in movies but directors such as Stanley Kubrick and Darren Aronofsky’s mentor and regular early Rourke collaborator Stuart Rosenberg were masterful in this regard. If you check the Google maps image below, no building is there, just a 1950s house and access to the back of the businesses on the same street. It’s also significant that he has a suitcase.
As can be seen in the above image, a 1950s built house and access to the businesses when you turn right at the next junction.
Another angle showing the supposed location of the “Pioneer Club”
For Mickey this was a movie about redemption. It was hard to see where he ended and Randy began. As a boxer many of his fights were fixed. Guys would put up a small fight but go down and stay down often quite theatrically. Wrestling is fighting that while punishing is a performance with a preordained winner and loser just like Mickeys boxing matches.
The awning of the “Pioneer Club” is the key to the subliminal and the something more obvious subtext of the movie, Rourkes rebirth
If we take a closer look at what is added to the image when the CGI building it becomes the New York Actors Studio building. Mickey was a member of this very selective and secretive club that practice their craft of “method acting” but fell out with them and ended up out of work for a good long while.
Originally a temple, the New York home of the method acting mecca, The Actors Studio. Mickey returned after his many years out of work with Aaronofskys The Wrestler
The “Pioneer Club” wasn’t a random name out of the hat either. The Actors Studio draw performances from actors in a way not seen with any consistency elsewhere. They have been described as the “Oscar Cult” on account of the many winners in the small circle. They are indeed pioneers.
This is repeated later in the movie at around the midway point when Randy attends a meet and greet event.
Once again, Mickey is walking towards and image that matches the front of The Actors Studio New York.
The symbolic reference to The Actors Studio for Mickey to return to as the prodigal son.
The almost perfectly matching composer in both shots reinforces the intention. With Repetition hints at Darren Aronofsky’s Jewish descent, Judaism both and his chosen Kaballa. Repetition is a key indicator of importance used in the Bible and the Zohar.
The journey home from the wilderness reinforced in the second subliminally delivered reference to Mickey Rourkes return to The Actors Studio, the pioneering circle located un New York, Hells Kitchen.
This is nothing short of brilliant and you can understand why Aronofskys work is held up as genius after only a few movies and at a young age. He continues the Jewish tradition of esoteric storytelling and with his craft joins Kubrick and Spielberg as masters of storytelling on multiple levels from conscious to subliminal conundrums spread over multiple movies.
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