Don’t Miss This One-Legged Wrestling Champ’s UNSTOPPABLE Story
By Movieguide® Contributor
Anthony Robles was born without his right leg, but that never stopped him from becoming one of the greatest collegiate wrestlers in the world and landing his own movie, UNSTOPPABLE.
“I just have to give a lot of credit to my mom and to my siblings growing up,” Robles said. “They didn’t treat me any differently. They didn’t treat my missing leg as something that would hold me back in my life.”
Their support always helped him overcome challenges, from riding a bike to bullying.
“I would come home, just getting that recharge from them, saying, ‘I’m going to keep fighting. I’m going to figure this out,’” he explained. “It was a puzzle. I just had to find the right pieces.”
At 14, Robles watched one of his cousins at his wrestling practice. The coach asked Robles if he wanted to join. After a moment of hesitation, he jumped in.
“I got thrown around that first time, but I walked away with the biggest smile on my face and the biggest passion for wrestling after that,” Robles says. “I knew I wanted to be a wrestler from here on out.”
“There’s no one that’s going to sub in for you,” he said. “If you’re getting beat, the coach can’t call a timeout and put someone else in to take your place. You have to figure it out.”
He discovered wrestling was a way for him to show others how capable he was.
“Kids and adults were staring at me because I was different,” Robles says. “On a wrestling mat, I could focus and really force them to see me in the light that I saw myself.”
“I couldn’t do the moves the same way that my teammates did,” he says. “I had to adjust. I had to change to my benefit. It was a matter of finding the right puzzle pieces with my coaches and just putting that time in.”
Robles was undefeated in his junior and sophomore years in high school, at 96-0. He also won two state championships. In college, he earned All-American honors at Arizona State. He was undefeated in his senior year and beat Iowa’s Matt McDonough at the 2011 NCAA championship.
“I’m grateful for him,” Robles said. “I was forced to bring my discipline, to bring my work ethic, my effort up a notch to be able to compete with him. He made me a better person all around. He made me mentally tougher.”
One year after the championship, he wrote a book, “Unstoppable,” about his experiences, which caught the attention of producers Andy Fraser and David Crockett. As Robles began to work with screenwriters, he stressed that he wanted the details to remain authentic.
“My family would read the scripts and we would give our opinions, and they would take those to heart and make changes,” Robles said. “We had to tweak certain things. They cared about the true message and the things that were important to my family and me.”
But Robles’ biggest task was making actor Jharrel Jerome act like a one-legged wrestler. Jerome had it hard because of the interruptions caused by COVID-19. He started training in 2020 but stopped for two years due to the pandemic. He then took a seven-month program and had to stay in shape for another five months during the writer’s strike.
“We trained for three months, and then in March 2020, as we know what happened, and so we stopped,” Jerome told The Playlist. “The irony of this film being called UNSTOPPABLE is hilarious because of the amount of times we had to stop. We went about a year and a half, and Anthony and I were just texting back and forth.”
“I felt like I was hanging by a string,” Jerome said. “I leaned on Anthony and he was always the reminder that there’s something so much bigger than me with this and I just gotta keep holding on.”
After starting out memorizing basic techniques on two legs, Jerome and Robles movies to the floor. Jerome learned to stay on his knees and use his fists like a pair of legs.
“I wrestled on the ground with my right knee forward and my right leg was almost a tail just dragging back,” Jerome said. “It was a little trickier in the moments where I’m on my crutches because I had to hike my leg back.
He continued, “They gave me calluses. That was the hardest part. I had to take them everywhere.”
Robles helped him every step of the way.
“I was basically just connecting the dots as we went, making sure we were comfortable before we moved on,” Robles said. “Over time, it was neat to see Jharrel completely forget that the leg was there.”
READ MORE: OLYMPIC WRESTLER KURT ANGLE ‘TURNED MY LIFE TO CHRIST’ AFTER ADDICTION
Robles got to perform as a stunt double for Jerome in the movie.
“I didn’t have to hold back at all,” Robles says. “I could show everything that I could do, everything I was capable of because of how well he did out there…It came out amazingly well. I’m so proud of it.”
Robles had a troubled home life, which intensified when his stepfather abandoned the family.
“I just remember telling myself, there’s someone out there that went through it, too,” Robles said. “Everyone as a family came together and said we’re OK sharing this part of our story. We’re OK revealing this scar to the world because it will touch people out there.”
A pivotal scene in the movie is when Arizona State’s wrestling budget is cut. Robles’ mom, Judy, hands him a bag of letters from inspired kids all around the US. From that, Robles finds the strength to keep going.
“That’s a real moment,” Jerome said. “He still has those letters with him in a drawer.”
“There were certain times where my mom was pulling me through it,” Robles told ScreenRant. “She was just picking me back up saying, ‘Okay, go again. Get back out there.’ So absolutely, that was a special thing between my mom and I, that strength between each other.”
Since writing his book, Robles has earned many honors. He was awarded the Best Male Athlete with a Disability at the 2011 ESPYs and the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. President Obama named him a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame awarded him its medal of courage.
He says watching a movie of his life is “therapeutic.”
“We have the tendency to go through something and we just focus on that negativity in front of us, the challenge,” he said. “When in reality, we have to remember all the things that are working in our benefit: the strength, the support that we have. I see this opportunity with the film as a way to reach people in their lives—to inspire them.”
Part of Movieguide®’s review of UNSTOPPABLE reads:
The movie features a very strong biblical worldview, placing Anthony as a strong role model, both in the movie and real life, who represents hard work, perseverance, human dignity, justice, caring for the weak, and equality. Furthermore, multiple characters make positive references to Christianity, making remarks about prayer, the Bible, and the Lord. This story is exceptionally well told and is faithful to the real-life Anthony Robles. Unfortunately, it also features extreme foul language, with a total of 35 profanities and obscenities throughout. Furthermore, it broaches topics of abuse and divorce, which could be too much for sensitive audiences. Thus, Movieguide® advises caution for older teens and adults.
READ MORE: UNSTOPPABLE MOVIE REVIEW
UNSTOPPABLE is currently available to stream on Prime.
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