'Fighting With My Family' Featurette Focuses On The True Story

The marketing for Fighting With My Family isn't shy pushing the Based On A True Story angle, because that's the type of feel-good entertainment that gets butts in seats. The Stephen Merchant comedy about wrestler Paige and her rise to fame. A new Fighting With My Family featurette peels back the gauzy biopic curtain to focus on the real true story that inspired the film. Check it out below.

Earlier today, we ran a story that delved into the truth behind Fighting With My Family. It was a serendipitous post, because there's now a Fighting With My Family featurette that also highlights that true inspiration. The film "follows reformed gangster Ricky, wife Julia, daughter Paige and son Zak as they make a living wrestling together in tiny venues. When Paige and Zak get the opportunity to try out for WWE, the family grabs a once-in-a-lifetime chance to turn their wildest dreams into a dazzling future. However, brother and sister quickly discover that to become superstars, both their talent and their relationship will be put to the test."

As this featurette reveals, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson heard of Paige after the fact, and then decided to produce a movie based on her life – something that trailers, and even footage in this featurette, alters slightly for a better story. Here, Paige meets the Rock during her rise to stardom. Even if it didn't happen that way, it probably plays better cinematically. To quote the great Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Fighting With My Family has been picking up mostly positive buzz. Our own Ethan Anderton saw the movie at Sundance, and came away impressed, writing:

Fighting with My Family portrays professional wrestling in a blockbuster fashion that has rarely been seen on the big screen. The excitement that comes from seeing Paige make her way up the ranks of WWE is triumphant – there are shades of Rudy here, spiced with a little bit of Happy Gilmore. I'm not even a wrestling fan, but even I was impressed by how the film presents the massive scale of events like WrestleMania. The film puts you right in the ring alongside Paige, surrounded by 20,000 screaming fans. It's a sequence that was actually shot in the span of an hour during a real WWE event with the support of the company, and it truly sells the experience.

Stephen Merchant and Dwayne Johnson may make for an odd pairing, but that's appropriate for a movie about families, both makeshift and otherwise. And that makes this a special kind of uplifting sports flick, one that even non-wrestling fans can enjoy.

Fighting With My Family is now playing.