The trailer for Fighting With My Family has arrived, promising a funny and heartfelt underdog story of a young British girl who dreams of becoming a professional wrestler. The film is based on the true story of WWE professional wrestler Paige Bevis (Outlaw King‘s Florence Pugh), who comes from a British family obsessed with professional wrestling.
Paige’s father Patrick (Nick Frost), and mother Julia (Lena Headey), both wrestlers, have raised Paige and her brother Zak (Dunkirk‘s Jack Lowden) with a dream of becoming pro wrestlers in the WWE, but tension rises when Paige is picked by professional coach Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) to come to America over her brother.
The film is written and directed by Stephen Merchant, best known for co-creating The Office and Extras with Ricky Gervais. Merchant also created the funny but short-lived HBO series Hello Ladies, and played Caliban in Logan. The film is based on the 2012 Channel Four documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family, and is produced by WWE Studios and Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, who also plays himself.
In 2012 I watched a documentary about a young, unknown British female pro wrestler & her wonderfully crazy family. I loved it!
It was a story that my @SevenBucksProd had to tell. That girl @RealPaigeWWE would go on to help redefine @WWE women’s wrestling. #FightingWithMyFamily pic.twitter.com/5jiwIGsXe8— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) November 14, 2018
Paige took to Twitter to share her excitement for the film:
Omg I’m definitely crying my eyes out through LAX right now 😭😭 YOU GUYS LOOK AT THIS TRAILER!! My heart! Thank you for believing in mine and my families story @TheRock 😭❤️ https://t.co/WY6iy1UY0k
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) November 14, 2018
I’m of the opinion that there are never enough “women in sports” movies, and I’m always down for a scrappy underdog story so this trailer is hitting all the notes. The film will also be riding the wave of female wrestling comedy series GLOW on Netflix, which has received critical acclaim and remains a TMS favorite.
Hopefully, Fighting With My Family will join the ranks of other woman athlete classics like Million Dollar Baby, Whip It, and Girlfight. It hits theaters in February 2019.
(via Collider, image: screengrab)
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