Movie

Being raised in a pro wrestling family himself inspires The Rock to produce a biopic about WWE superstar Paige's family.

• Feb 8, 2017

AceShowbiz - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is developing a biopic for his next movie project. He teams up with WWE Studios and "The Office" creator Stephen Merchant to bring the life story of WWE Superstar Paige to the big screen. The biopic, titled "Fighting with My Family", will be written, executive produced and directed by Merchant himself.

"The Falling" actress Florence Pugh will star as the main character, Paige, whose real name is Saraya-Jade Bevis. Meanwhile, "Dunkirk" actor Jack Lowden is cast as Zak, Paige's brother. Johnson reportedly will also star in the comedy-drama biopic, but his role is currently unknown.

BREAKING: Our @sevenbucksprod is excited to announce production on a cool project we've been working on for years based on a very unique and gritty professional wrestling family and a their daughter's journey into the spotlight of the WWE. "Fighting With My Family" Years ago (2012) while shooting Fast & Furious in London, I was up at 3am (too much caffeine) and stumbled upon a documentary on a UK station about a local wrestling family and their daughter's unlikely journey into the global spotlight. That daughter, is current WWE Women's Superstar, Paige. The family strong element I saw in the doc, is what grabbed my attention. That no matter how crazy life gets, no matter how dysfunctional our families can sometimes be and especially regardless of how much we fight - we're always there for each other when it counts. That's what families do. My gut said there was a great movie to be made so I sent to my agent Brad Slater at WME who loved it. He sent it to my long time ace producer Kevin Misher, who immediately responded to the doc and he thought we should go after one of our favorite writer/directors for material like this, Stephen Merchant. Merchant, being from the UK, locked in to a strong POV and vision of how gritty and heartfelt this film needs to be and the rest is history. Pleasure to partner with WWE Studios and Film 4 to bring this cool story to life. Paige and I both know what it's like to come from a wrestling family who's had it's good and hard times. Her and I have talked about this project for years now and we're all excited to bring her and her family's story to life. Cool casting announcements coming this week! #FightingWithMyFamily #SevenBucksProds #MisherFilms #WWEFilms #Film4 #BevisFamily #SquaredCircleDNA

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Feb 7, 2017 at 9:39am PST

The WWE star expressed her excitement for the movie on her Twitter account. She posted the screencap of Johnson's Instagram post and dubbed the project a "dream come true" in the caption. She added, "I'm extremely happy for myself but mostly happy for my family.. they deserve everything and more."

Dream come true! I'm extremely happy for myself but mostly happy for my family.. they deserve everything and more 🙏🏻😊😊 #TheKnights pic.twitter.com/1AJPwgdWCw

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— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) February 7, 2017

During an interview with Deadline, The Rock revealed that he got the inspiration from a Channel 4 British documentary titled "The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family" during the filming of one of "Fast and Furious" movies back in 2012 in London. "Not only was I intrigued by this loving and wild family, but I also felt it's the kind of narrative that would make an amazing movie. The Knights' journey is a universal one that all families are familiar with. I relate to Saraya (Paige) and her wrestling family on such a personal level and it means so much that I can help tell their story," he explained.

WWE Studios are co-financing the movie along with Film4, which has been developing the project. Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Production will serve as exec producers. Meanwhile, Kevin Misher of Misher Films will produce alongside WWE Studios President Michael Luisi.

Luisi said in a statement, "What an incredible opportunity for WWE Studios to partner with revered WWE Superstar Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to bring the compelling, heartwarming and often hilarious family story of WWE Superstar Paige to audiences worldwide." Luisi also gave a flattery comment about Merchant's works as he said, "Stephen Merchant has such a keen creative eye and we are thrilled to work with Daniel Battsek and his team at Film4, Kevin Misher, to bring for the very first time the tale of one of our own to the big screen."

The movie follows a reformed gangster and former wrestler Ricky, his wife Julia, daughter Saraya and son Zak who make a living performing in tiny venues across the country. Ricky and his wife want a better life for their children. It seems the family's dream is coming true and all of their troubles will be solved when Saraya and Zak get the chance to audition for the WWE. However, the siblings learn that becoming a WWE Superstar demands more than they ever imagined possible as athletes and siblings.

"Fighting with My Family" is expected to begin its production this month in Los Angeles and London. No release date has been set yet for the movie.