Posted: Tue., Jan. 6, 2009, 2:15pm PT

Larry Kaplow on 'The Wrestler'

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"The Wrestler" is a story of a guy who knows he's done nothing. Who's achieved nothing. Mickey Rourke's character has no nice clothes. No home. And yet, just out of his reach is anything and everything anyone could ever want -- a girlfriend, a daughter, a family. In his eyes, you could tell that here's a man who knew that he could have everything. At the same time, he knew there wasn't a chance he could have anything. There was just such grace in the way Rourke showed both sides of that.

Robert Siegel wrote about a wrestler, a guy who really doesn't have words. The writing was simple, very real. He told a simple tale well. Marisa Tomei and Rourke are these stock characters, and, yet, you felt for them. She wasn't the hooker with a heart of gold. She was like every human being on the planet who has a few bucks trying to make this thing work. You have these damaged characters who, in the fairy tale, nice things happen to. But in real life, people really do leave. And when they walk out the door they mean it. And you know what you've lost in that moment.

Larry Kaplow is co-executive producer of "House M.D."