Is ‘Unstoppable’ a true story? Anthony Robles fact-checks the film

On By Littum

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Spoiler alert! We discuss moments from the new movie “Unstoppable” (streaming now on Prime Video). Proceed with caution if you haven’t seen it yet.

It’s quite rare for someone to star in their own Hollywood biopic. Nothing stops Anthony Robles, not even convention.

The sports drama “Unstoppable” follows the inspiring story of Robles, who was born with one leg, as he goes from Arizona high school wrestling superstar to undefeated college national champion. Jharrel Jerome plays Anthony, and Robles himself doubled the actor in gripping fight scenes. “I got the opportunity to train for something again, to go back in time and just relive that special moment,” says Robles, 36.

Robles’ underdog story involves coaches, teammates, siblings, and his loyal mother, Judy (played by Jennifer Lopez), who helps a young Anthony navigate self-doubt, a troubled home life, and those who underestimate his strength.

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It also authentically mines Robles’ real life, from hopeful quotes hanging in his high school wrestling room (“A man’s character is his destiny”) to a humorous scene when Jerome’s Anthony, while working at an airport, playfully jumping up and down on the wing of an airplane. “Truth be told, man, when I’m around the house, I’m jumping around. I don’t really use my crutches,” says Robles, a producer on the film with Lopez and her ex Ben Affleck.

The motivational speaker, author and wrestling coach at suburban Phoenix Hamilton High School discuss what is fact and what is fictionalized in “Unstoppable”:

Anthony Robles really scaled the famous ‘Rocky’ steps for inspiration

Robles’ high school and college national championship wins were both in Philadelphia, and at the beginning and end of the film, Anthony climbs the famous “Rocky” steps at the Museum of Art for quiet moments to clear his mind.

It’s taken directly from Robles’ personal experience because he’s done the steps many times over the years—as seen in a family photo taken during the 2011 national championship tournament that appears during the film’s credits. And just like in the movie, Robles had a “Rocky” poster in his bedroom. The Sylvester Stallone classic “was a huge inspiration for me,” says Robles.

Anthony was ‘Unstoppable’ during his ‘Hell Week’ start at Arizona State

When his abusive prison warden stepfather, Rick (Bobby Cannavale), abandons the family, Anthony turns down a full trip to Drexel University to stay home and help his mother. He moves on to the Arizona State wrestling squad, where coach Shawn Charles (Don Cheadle) puts his athletes through the wringer during tryouts, including a 3-mile extreme hike up a rocky mountain. On his crutches, a determined, bloody Anthony conquers the hill and earns the respect of his team.

The key scene was influenced by a similarly treacherous hike that Robles endured during his ASU team’s “Hell Week.” He remembers “definitely” feeling a sense of accomplishment “but look up, that’s for sure.” The final initiation was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done mentally and physically. But it showed me a lot of what I was made of. It reminded me of a life lesson: You just take it one day at a time, one step at a time. Just focus on what’s in front of you.”

‘Unstoppable’ captures Anthony Robles’ confrontational relationship with his stepfather

“Unstoppable” closely follows Anthony’s goal of a national championship, but the most tense scenes come out of his relationship with his stepfather. Rick gets in Anthony’s face and the son bristles as his stepfather’s abuse of Judy turns physical. When Anthony finds Rick threatening his mother, he puts Rick in a headlock until the police come to arrest him.

Although the physical was dramatized, a similar confrontation took place between Robles and his stepfather. “Things were broken, the police were called, it happened,” says Robles. “When I see it on film every time, I feel the anger boiling up in me again. But to be able to see it and know that we got through it, it means the world to us.”

A bunch of fan mail from kids changed Anthony Robles’ life

After losing the 2010 championship to his Iowa rival, Anthony is riding a winning streak from last year. One day, his high school coach (Michael Peña) delivers a box of fan letters to Judy from students writing to “a living hero”. She shares the notes showing Anthony how much of a role model he has become and they have a touching moment.

In real life, he received a stack of letters from a third-grade classroom in Atlanta the summer after his junior year after “a tough loss” in the national quarterfinals. “It broke me. I didn’t think I’d make it back for my senior year,” Robles says. But that fan mail (which he keeps in a trophy case at home) “completely changed the trajectory of my life.” Winning that title “didn’t mean anything for me. What really mattered to me now is that I wanted to show these kids that anything is possible.”

Judy Robles, Anthony’s mother, really has no patience for scammers

Robles says Lopez did “a very accurate job” of portraying her mother’s fiercely protective nature, and there are two audience scenes at wrestling matches when the movie Judy goes total mama bear. The first is when a couple of teenage girls make fun of him for only having one leg; the second is when a woman yells “Break his leg!” Judy is ready to fight both times.

“When I first started wrestling, I remember going out there and somebody laughing in the crowd and my mom actually said something to them. She got in their face,” Robles says. In quiet moments where Robles was in dispute with an opponent on the mat, “my mother would make it a point to yell. This was on purpose so that I could lock onto her voice at the critical moment. When everything else was quiet, my mother was still in my head.”