Rewatchables Reference

• Winner: Tommy's first gym fight where he destroys Mad Dog, then tells the trainer 'You owe me 200 bucks' – both Bill and Russillo pick this.
• Tommy asking Paddy to train him and the pill scene – 'You sounded like a goddamn maraca coming through the door'.
• Frank Grillo's 'Don't you tap!' corner scene.
• The Koba vs. Brendan third round with Grillo's 'Why are we here?' speech.
• The final fight – the cheapshot after round 1, the broken arm/shoulder, coming out one-armed.
• The last round with 'About Today' by The National – Bill calls it 'one of the best endings ever to a sports movie'.

• Tom Hardy's believability and career trajectory – 'Inception' (2010), Warrior (2011), Bane in 'The Dark Knight' Rises (2012).
• The slot machine scene – Hardy throwing coins at Nolte, leading to Nolte's alcoholic relapse bender (Moby Dick on a Walkman with Canadian Club whiskey).
• The fight scenes' authenticity – invented two distinct MMA styles for Tommy (Lesnar-like wrecking ball) and Brendan (scrappy grappler).
• Jennifer Morrison as Tess – not the typical 'wet blanket girlfriend' of sports movies.
• Tommy having no entrance music and leaving immediately after wins.

• The first 40 minutes are slow from a rewatchability standpoint.
• The students' reaction to their teacher doing MMA – in 2011 there was still a 'human cockfighting' stigma; in 2021 the kids would think it's the coolest thing ever.
• Gavin O'Connor playing the Dana White/hedge fund guy – could have used a different, bigger actor.
• Could have used one more Tommy-Brendan scene between the hour-five encounter and the final fight.

• The Nolte role was written specifically for him – he and the screenwriter were neighbors in Malibu. The studio did NOT want to cast Nolte; O'Connor held firm.
• Kurt Angle played Koba, the Russian villain.
• Bryan Callen's MMA commentator was heavily based on Joe Rogan (they're friends) – Bill jokes they should have named him 'Mo Logan'.
• Frank Grillo based his trainer on famed MMA trainer Greg Jackson.

• Nick Nolte – dials it up but it's totally justified given the character's demons.
• The guy who plays Mad Dog – really trying to work the smarmy bad guy angle.

• Winner: The guy who works at the high school who alerts Edgerton about the school committee – was the right-hand guy in Dave, the dad in Mad Love, was in Veep. Bill doesn't know his name and prefers to 'live in darkness.'
• Honorable mention: the front desk guy at the gym who videotapes Tommy fighting – 'His PER is in the 50s'.

• Frank Grillo as Brendan's corner man – absolutely kills it, especially the 'Don't you tap!' scene and 'Why are we here?' speech.
• Honorable mention: Kurt Angle as Koba.

Stanley Tucci as JJ, the bald hedge fund guy (Dana White-type) who creates Sparta – Bill thinks Tucci would have done 'three fun things with it'.

• Hardy gained 28 pounds for this role, then went straight into Bane.
• Joel Edgerton tore his MCL during production; they halted fight scenes for six weeks.
• The writers selected 'About Today' by The National before writing the final scene – played the song on loop while writing.
• First day of shooting, Nolte was so good the crew gave him a standing ovation – the scene didn't make the movie.
• The Iraq scenes were filmed in a parking lot in Pittsburgh.
• Remade as a Bollywood film called 'Brothers' and also remade in Russia.

• Gavin O'Connor: His 'artistic Apex Mountain' even though the movie flopped commercially.
• Tom Hardy: Bill says Bane is his apex, with 'Inception'/Warrior/Bane as the peak run.
• Joel Edgerton: Bill thinks this actually was his Apex Mountain – '100% leading man'.
• Atlantic City: 'Has it ever gotten better for Atlantic City than Sparta?'
• Underground MMA movies: '100% yes for Apex Mountain'.
• Bryan Callen: Probably his apex.

• Both brothers getting into the tournament is a stretch.
• Brendan at 1000-to-1 odds is ridiculous – nobody with UFC experience in a 16-man tournament would be 1000-to-1.
• Tommy's desertion storyline would come out way sooner in the internet age.
• The brothers being related would come out before the finals.
• Brendan fighting the day after the Koba fight with those injuries seems impossible.

• Already happening – Gavin O'Connor confirmed they're making Warrior into a TV series.
• O'Connor's vision: every season four characters, two men, two women, all fighters from different parts of the world – 'the show is about what's the fight outside the cage'.

• Why wasn't Tom Hardy a bigger star? Could he have been on the Leo level?
• Is this a better movie if Tommy fights Koba in the finals instead of his brother? (Russillo: No – the brother fight ending is what makes it work).
• Did Bane mess up Hardy's career trajectory?

• The Walkman with the Moby Dick audiobook.
• All the coins Tom Hardy threw at Nick Nolte at the slot machines.
• Tom Hardy's pullover/hoodie he wore to the ring.

• Winner: Nick Nolte – Russillo argues 'there's so much sympathy for him, he crushes it, you feel really sad for him when he has the relapse, and then he has that happy smile at the end'.
• Tom Hardy would be the only other option – Bill was leaning Hardy but Russillo won him over.