By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

Evan Rachel Wood plays Randy "the Ram" Robinson's estranged daughter in "The Wrestler," which meant plenty of scenes conveying awkwardness and fear. To best convey this relationship, Wood and Mickey Rourke maintained distance on the set while filming.

"I didn't speak to him until we were in the middle of a scene and we were rolling," Wood told Movies Online. "We didn't even rehearse. I didn't go in the hair and make-up trailer when he was there and didn't see him out of character and didn't talk to him between takes. We just split."

Wood says being kept separate helped them build the awkwardness when the cameras were rolling and so she wouldn't be intimidated by Rourke, but see him as the character of Randy Robinson.

Also working with director Darren Aronofsky helped her get into the role without rehearsing key scenes with Rourke, including the final epic scene of the movie.

"He (Aronofsky) really worked very closely with me," Wood said. "He bases the characters off of who you are. He wants to get to know you and where you're coming from and working on a back story so when the day comes, he knows how hard to push you and when to stop and let you breathe."

Wood says she had to convince Aronofsky to keep certain lines she improvised with Rourke even if they were off the script. She says being in "the moment" with Rourke allowed her to convey more real emotions than the script called for.

"I know there were a couple things that we both threw in because we were relating to the scenes personally so much," Wood said. "Darren would even come up to me and say 'I think this is too much. I kind of want to cut this.' And I'd be like, 'You can't cut that. I've said it in real life. You can't cut that line. It's going to take me exactly where I need to be.' So no, we wanted to keep as much of the original script as we could."

Also in the interview, Wood details one scene where she cut her hand on a soda can during multiple takes and they had to bandage her thumb to stop the bleeding and finish the scene. "It was worth it," she said.

Link: Movies Online interview with Evan Rachel Wood.

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