'Fighting With My Family' Is a 'Funny, Emotional and Inspirational' Tale of WWE Star Paige, Says Director Stephen Merchant

Stephen Merchant wasn't all that familiar with the world of wrestling before he signed on to direct, write and produce and a film about wrestling. Actually, Merchant wasn't even interested in the subject matter when his buddy Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson first phoned him gushing over a 2012 documentary, Fighting With My Family, and requested him to write a feature film telling the story of WWE star Paige.

Flash forward some WrestleManias later, and now the acclaimed director and actor is well versed in the art of wrestling and the inspirational upbringing of WWE star Paige, otherwise known as Saraya-Jade Bevis, her family and their deep ties within England's wrestling community.

"I didn't know anything about wrestling before I started this project. Never seen it, wouldn't of recognized any of the guys, any of their names," Merchant told Newsweek during a recent interview. "I was really just won over by this family, the relationship of this brother and sister and her having to come to America, living and carrying the family dream by herself."

On the surface, Fighting With My Family the movie, which premiered nationwide on Friday, is technically a film about wrestling featuring a belly-full of humor and extreme training intense enough to make viewers sweat popcorn butter. There's also the splash of glitzy celebrity Johnson brings by, well, playing Johnson. And the movie certainly offers a feel-good look into the vigorous work, self-acceptance and determination it took for Paige, played by Florence Pugh, to become the WWE's youngest Diva's Champion when she was 21 years old in 2014.

At its core though, the film is more so a heartwarming (and incredibly funny) story of a family with unwavering support and pride for who they are and what they do, wrapped in lycra and topped with a drop-kick bow.

"That family, they are so rude and so funny and so clever and so loving. Watching their support, the way the brought up their kids and the pride they have for what they do was very touching. It was also something that I connected within my own family," Pugh told Newsweek, noting Paige's family is "ultimately the reason why she's gotten to where she is."

Pugh added: "Because of her parents, because of how hard working they were and the way the never stopped supporting Paige or her brother, that's why the family has become so successful."

Through the intensity of Paige's training and the anguish over her otherness—Merchant highlighted the wrestler's own admonishment of feeling like "a freak" before her WWE stardom—the film reveals the wrestler's own plight being thousands of miles away from her relatives at the WWE NXT facility in Florida, but Fighting With Family also gives viewers a glimpse into the darkness that encapsulated her brother, English wrestler, Zak "Zodiac" Bevis, as he suffered the organization's rejection while essentially watching his little sister live his dream.

"One of the hardest things in life must be when there's something you really wanna do, a dream and desire to become one thing and then be told you can't do it, you're not good enough or you're not suited for that dream. That must be utterly heartbreaking. That did happen to Zak. He was the golden child of the family. They all thought he was the one who was gonna go off and be in the WWE. He auditioned twice and both times got knocked back," Jack Lowden, who plays Zodiac in the film, said.

While WWE's dismissal certainly takes a toll on Zak and the relationship with his sister throughout the film, it also serves as a learning lesson. "It takes a lot to deal with having your dreams crushed and then reinvent yourself the way Zak did," Lowden said.

Despite never being an official member of the wrestling organization, the real Zodiac is still thriving in in the U.K. Along with running the Bevis family's wrestling company, World Association of Wrestling, in their hometown of Norwich, he's become a massive figure of the wrestling community across the U.K. by training disabled kids to fight.

The witty jokes, compliments of cast members Vince Vaughn, Nick Frost and Lena Heady, ease the sting of some of the life jabs Pugh and Lowden's character's face throughout their journey. Although, nothing quite compares to the fuzzy warmth of the heart watching the family cheer each other on.

"There just seemed to be so much interesting meat on this story, especially in regards of the family, that the wrestling side of it almost became irrelevant," Merchant said. "I love knowing that people will watch this movie and they'll be laughing in the beginning and crying in the end."