Empire Australasia – August 2019

REVIEW

STEPHENMERCHANT’S
FightingWithMyFamilyis
a fun,compelling,feel-good
comedy-dramathattells
thestoryoftheKnights,
a working-class,wrestling-
obsessedfamilyinNorwich,
andhowtheirdaughterSaraya
madeit allthewaytothebright
lightsofbig-timewrestlingin
theWWE—titles,bigcrowds,
TheRockandall.Ifthestory
soundsfamiliar,it’sbecausethe
filmwasinspiredbya 2012
Channel4 documentaryof
thesamenamewhichfollowed
theKnights’journey.But,
increatingthecharacters
forthefilm,thatwasjust
writer-directorMerchant’s
startingpoint.

1 PAIGE

Black-cladwrestlingprodigy,

playedbyFlorencePugh.

“IcouldseewhyDwayne

[Johnson,whoalsoproduced]

thoughtthedocumentary

wouldbea goodfilm,although

I didn’tfeelthatit hadenough

fora movie.Whatswungit for

mewasPaigetoldmeonthe

phonethatshehadwonthe

[wrestlingTVshow]Rawtitle

inherfirstmatch.Sonowyou

havethisready-madeRocky

moviesittingthereinreallife.

Allthewaythroughthewriting

processI hadtherealwomanin

mymind.ShewasinFlorida,

I wasinLondonandLA,but

I wouldmeetwithherwhenI

could.OnetimeI wasshooting

Logan and had a day off, and

went to Florida. There was a

big hurricane and I almost got

stuck there. I would record our

calls and listen to them back.

What was interesting was, she

told me when she went to the

WWE training camp in

Florida, she felt she was bullied

by the other girls. When I

mentioned this to the trainers,

they said, ‘Well, sometimes she

was the bully.’ So I tried to

introduce her sense of

isolation, and how being a long

way from home made her lash

out at the other girls. When it

came to casting, she was almost

impossible to replace. She’s so

unique, charismatic, she has

a striking look. How do you

replicatethat?Florencecame

in, andfounda versionof

Paige,asopposedtoan

impression.OnceI hadthat,I

couldtailorthemovietothat,

insteadoftherealperson.”

2 ZAK

Paige’solderbrother(played

by JackLowden),rejected

by theWWEatthesame

timeastheyacceptPaige.

He doesn’ttakeit well...

“Thefamilywereshockedwhen

he didn’tgetsigned.It’s

completelyarbitrary.Whenyou

see himperform,he’svery

entertainingandcharismatic.It

didn’tmakesensetomewhyhe

didn’tgetsigned.ButZakhad

a dark,depressivetimeafter

Writer-directorStephenMerchantonmouldingthecharactersof

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY from their real-life counterparts

Above from left:

Paige (Florence

Pugh); Zak

(Jack Lowden);

The Rock (as

himself); Ricky

(Nick Frost)

and Saraya

(Lena Headey).

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SHUTTERSTOCK, PRESS ASSOCIATION