Warrior Movie Trivia
Memorable Movie Quotes
Bryan Callen: I’ll tell you what: you do that to someone on the street and they’d lock you up and throw away the key! Break out the yellow tape, Sam. Tommy’s walking away from the cage like he’s leaving a crime scene.
Principal Zito: Let me get this straight. You want to use the auditorium to watch a suspended teacher engage in the activity he was suspended for? Am I hearing this correctly?
Bryan Callen: Lock up the china because the boys are at it again!
Trivia
Joel Edgerton tore his MCL in the cage during production, halting fight scenes for six weeks. Tom Hardy suffered a broken toe, broken ribs, and a broken finger.
The role of Paddy was written for Nick Nolte by Anthony Tambakis and Gavin O’Connor, who are neighbors with the actor in Malibu. The studio was resistant to casting Nolte, but the writers held firm and Nolte’s portrayal has won him global critical praise.
When the announcer is quoting Koba’s credentials, he states that he is an Olympic Gold medalist in wrestling. Kurt Angle, the actor playing Koba, won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics in the 220lbs/100 kg weight class for freestyle wrestling. He was also a world champion in the same style and weight class in 1995.
Brendan Conlon may be loosely based on the life of real-life UFC fighter Rich “Ace” Franklin. Like the character, Franklin was also a high school teacher who took part in cage-fights to make extra money.
While filming in Pittsburgh, Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis, Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Frank Grillo all lived together at the Cork Factory Lofts.
The location for the scenes in Iraq was actually an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, dressed to look like the desert by production designer Dan Leigh.
Actual UFC fighters Anthony Johnson and Nathan Marquardt each play the role of Sparta competitors.
The original script location for the Conlon family was Long Beach, CA. It was moved to Pittsburgh due to Pennsylvania tax breaks. The scenes set at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City were originally written for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Gavin O’Connor moved the action to New Jersey to fit with the gritty east coast aesthetic of the film.
In the Koba vs Brendan Conlin fight, Kurt Angle used suplexes to throw Joel Edgerton to the mat. During his career in WWE, suplexes were some of Angle’s primary moves against opponents.
Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle played the Russian fighter “Koba,” whose nickname was taken from the moniker given to “Josef Stalin.” In the original script, “Koba” was named “King Kong,” but it was changed for legal reasons. The brother of Gavin O’Connor’s assistant, Samantha Ellison, suggested the name “Koba.”
Goofs
North Hills Senior High School, where Brendan taught physics, and the Twin Highway Drive-in theater, where his students watched the final two fights, take place in Philadelphia but are actually located in Pittsburgh, where most of the rest of the movie is set.
Box Office Info In USA
Budget $25,000,000
Opening Weekend: $5,242,107
Gross $13,657,115
Filming Locations
Meadows Racetrack & Casino – 210 Racetrack Road, Washington, Pennsylvania, USA
(casino scenes)
Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
North Hills High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
(Classroom scenes)
Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
(Exterior)