Rourke Has Come Through
L.A. Weekly critic Scott Foundas has posted a frank, perceptive, and typically well written profile of Mickey Rourke, star of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight, 12.19), an almost-certain Best Actor nominee and by general consensus the Comeback Kid of 2008.
The timing of Foundas's article is a little unusual -- a few weeks after The Wrestler was hailed at the Toronto and Venice film festivals, and nearly three months before it'll open commercially. Obviously Foundas is foresaking the usual considerations to say to the industry, the press and the cognoscenti at large, "This is a major return-to-form performance by an actor who deserves not only respect but accolades -- a man who has suffered and wandered in the wilderness for his sins, and has returned with a performance that not only delivers in terms of great chops and emotionality, but which has unmistakable real-life echoes."
"'I hated the '90s...the '90s fuckin' sucked,' says professional wrestler Randy 'The Ram' Robinson early on in The Wrestler -- and he should know," Foundas begins. "Over the hill and past his prime -- his steroidal body a palimpsest of battle scars, his graying hair dyed a Nordic blond -- Robinson hasn't seen the inside of a major arena for the better part of 20 years. Nowadays, he gets top billing by scraping bottom, trading blows with other used-to-be's and might-have-beens in school gymnasiums and banquet halls, earning a cut of the door that's barely enough to cover his trailer-park rent.
"As it happens, the '90s weren't much kinder to the actor playing Robinson: Mickey Rourke. By the end of that misbegotten decade, the one-time Hollywood A-lister was living in a $500-a-month studio apartment and subsisting on a meager income generated by the sale of his motorcycle collection plus whatever acting jobs he could scrounge up from the few producers in town who weren't afraid to hire him.
"His flirtation with a boxing career had come to an end. His tabloid-catnip marriage to model Carre Otis had hit the skids. There were reports of arrests and of plastic surgeries gone awry. It was said he had walked off the set of one movie after a producer refused to allow Rourke's pet chihuahua to appear with him in a scene.
"'The thing is that I am the one to blame for all that,' Rourke says as he lights a cigarette in what I'm pretty sure is a nonsmoking suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, the day after The Wrestler's North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. His chihuahua, Loki, issues a bark from a nearby cushion. 'I used to blame other people, but I've got nobody else to blame except for Mickey Rourke.'
"That's more or less the same thing Rourke told director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) when they first met to discuss The Wrestler. Or rather, it was what Aronofsky told him.
"'He sits down and, for the first five minutes, he tells me how I fucked up my whole career for 15 years behaving like this, and I'm agreeing with everything,' Rourke recalls. 'Yes, I did. That's why I haven't worked for 15 years, and I've been working real hard not to make those mistakes.' After that, Aronofsky pointed his finger at the actor -- something, Rourke says, that not so long ago would have prompted him to say, 'Don't do that, okay, buddy?' -- and laid out the ground rules.
"'He goes, 'You have to listen to everything I say. You have to do everything I tell you. You can never disrespect me. And you can't be hanging out at the clubs all night long. And I can't pay you.' And I'm thinking, 'This fucker must be talented, because he's got a lot of nerve to say that.'"
"Then Aronofsky told Rourke that if he did all of those things, he would get the actor an Oscar nomination. 'The moment he said that, I believed him,' says Rourke. 'The first day of work, I believed him more. The second day of work, I believed him even more.' As for the finger-pointing, 'I'm from New York -- we point a lot,' Aronofsky tells me later. 'Like any good marriage, you want to be as up-front as possible about what the issues are.'"
Sidenote: I'm expecting to see The Wrestler before too long. I got shut out of the big Toronto press screening at 3 pm, and the next day I decided to blow off another Wrestler screening -- a public one -- so as not to miss a 12 noon press screening Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. The Toronto Film Festival is full of unfortunate do-or-don't decisions like this.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 26, 2008 at 8:07 AM
comment #1
actionman
says ...
"It was said he had walked off the set of one movie after a producer refused to allow Rourke's pet chihuahua to appear with him in a scene."
The film in question was Gone in Sixty Seconds.
I have ALWAYS loved Rourke. I cannot wait to see The Wrestler. Nobody does bad-ass quite like him. His turns in Sin City and Domino were pure machismo and I loved 'em both. Even his small, sleazy role in Man on Fire was a lot of fun to watch. He's burned a lot of bridges, but maybe, just maybe, he'll get his real second chance, like the way soooo many has-beens have gotten in Hwood.
I know Tony Scott will hire him in any film if the role is right so at least there's that.
Posted by actionman
at September 26, 2008 9:00 AM
comment #2
berg
says ...
THE FOUNTAIN was way way underrated, and it sounds like Loki is the real Beverly Hills Chihuahua ... I still think about that guy in PI drilling his head to relieve the pressure
Posted by berg
at September 26, 2008 9:16 AM
comment #3
Mark
says ...
Has Rourke ever explained bailing on Death Proof? what's that story?
Posted by Mark
at September 26, 2008 9:32 AM
comment #4
bluefugue
says ...
I live in a $600-a-month bachelor apartment. =/
Posted by bluefugue
at September 26, 2008 9:35 AM
comment #5
actionman
says ...
Yes, I agree with you Berg, on The Fountain's underratedness. In time people will warm up to its brilliance.
And yeah, the imagery of the drill-to-the-head in Pi has never escaped my memory banks, nor will it ever.
However, it sounds like The Wrestler has been directed in a much more subtle fashion than any of Aronofsky's previous pictures.
Posted by actionman
at September 26, 2008 9:36 AM
comment #6
Griff
says ...
Don't forget how good he was in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico." He, and Depp, were the best parts of the film.
Posted by Griff
at September 26, 2008 10:05 AM
comment #7
George Prager
says ...
I think it was J. Hoberman who wrote that Rourke looked like he was "sculpted out of congealed lard" in BUFFALO '66.
Posted by George Prager
at September 26, 2008 10:27 AM
comment #8
p.Vice
says ...
Foundas probably ran his story now as to preceed what will be a hundred like it come December. Everybody loves a comeback...
Posted by p.Vice
at September 26, 2008 10:55 AM
comment #9
Monument
says ...
It's about time for Rourke to get his due, he's been stealing the show for awhile now with his bit parts. Personally, I think Rourke is one of the main reasons for watching Sin City. He was one of the very few actors in that film that really immersed himself in the part, most of them seemed to be phoning it in. I know it was a small role, but how awful was Michael Madsen in that movie? And I normally enjoy his work.
Posted by Monument
at September 26, 2008 11:18 AM
comment #10
JohnCope
says ...
I love Rourke too and have for as long as I can remember. Still, it's true what this article mentions about what really used to distinguish him and it's what I really used to love about him. His screen persona in recent years (probably due to his unfortunate physical degeneration) has evolved to this standard sort of hard ass presence which he is damn good at admittedly but I dearly miss the Rourke of the 80's who was much more about the interplaybetween machismo and vulnerability, the way the one affects the other. Hopefully he'll get a chance to display that in his new film.
Posted by JohnCope
at September 26, 2008 11:31 AM
comment #11
actionman
says ...
Madsen was awful and has expressed his uncomfort in working against green screen. I thought everyone else in Sin City was spot-on, to be honest. Esepcially Clive Owen and Del Toro. Haven't watched that flick in a while...think I'll pop it in the DVD player this rainy weekend...
Posted by actionman
at September 26, 2008 12:59 PM
comment #12
dobbsy
says ...
Yeah, those horrible '90s, $500 apt, "meager income from selling motorcycle parts," yeah, yeah, sure....
WITHOUT residuals from previous films, isn't there at least $2-3 million in income from these....motorcycle parts listed below?
Is there an agent in the house to assess the actual Rourke income (from 20 features) during the decade?
Shades (1999) .... Paul S. Sullivan
Shergar (1999) .... Gavin O'Rourke
Cousin Joey (1999)
Out in Fifty (1999) .... Jack Bracken
Thursday (1998) .... Kasarov
Thicker Than Blood (1998) (TV) .... Father Frank Larkin
Point Blank (1998) .... Rudy Ray
Buffalo '66 (1998) .... The Bookie
The Rainmaker (1997) .... Bruiser Stone
... aka John Grisham's The Rainmaker (USA: complete title)
Love in Paris (1997) .... John Gray
... aka 9 1/2 Weeks II
... aka Another 9 1/2 Weeks (video title)
... aka Another Nine & a Half Weeks (USA)
... aka Love in Paris (France)
Double Team (1997) .... Stavros
... aka The Colony
Bullet (1996) .... Butch 'Bullet' Stein
Exit in Red (1996) .... Ed Altman
Fall Time (1995) .... Florence
The Last Outlaw (1994) (TV) .... Graff
F.T.W. (1994) .... Frank T. Wells
... aka Last Ride
White Sands (1992) .... Gorman Lennox
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) .... Harley Davidson
Desperate Hours (1990) .... Michael Bosworth
Wild Orchid (1990) .... James Wheeler
Posted by dobbsy
at September 26, 2008 1:26 PM
comment #13
rr3333
says ...
Man, I didnt realize how bad his 90s film choices were.
Much worse than Nic Cage's 00s output, which is saying a lot!
BTW: Can we have an intervention at Nic's house regarding his godawful flowing hairpiece choices. How ridiculous does he look?!?!? Can someone please tell him to stop!
Posted by rr3333
at September 26, 2008 1:34 PM
comment #14
dobbsy
says ...
rr333: yeah, must have been horrible working with hacks like Francis Coppola, Roger Donaldson, Michael Cimino, Vincent Gallo, Tsui Hark, alongside loser actors like Anthony Hopkins, Angelica Huston, Aaron Eckhart, Christina Ricci, Matt Damon, Jan Decleir et al.
Maybe if the piece had said his choices had turned to crap by the late 90s and he blew the milliion or three he made in the '90s on motorcycle parts and steroids, the reportage might be a little more believable.
I know, I know...print the legend.
Posted by dobbsy
at September 26, 2008 2:07 PM
comment #15
rr3333
says ...
dobbsy: I'm not trying to debate you, but your post has some serious flaws in it.
Lets call it the way it is: Coppola and Cimino were pretty much washed up by the early 90s, Hopkins was a journeyman actor up until 'Lambs', Damon was very green & a relative unknown, and once you namedrop Gallo in as a talent, your theory really goes out the window.
The Coppola/Cimino argument is like telling me that because 'Penn & Teller Get Killed' was directed by the great Arthur 'Bonnie & Clyde' Penn, that their film should be respected because of it. Uh. No.
Posted by rr3333
at September 26, 2008 2:25 PM
comment #16
dobbsy
says ...
Buffalo 66 was a major international critical hit. Remember?
Posted by dobbsy
at September 26, 2008 2:44 PM
comment #17
D.Z.
says ...
That list is indicative of why 90s films in general were so awful.
Posted by D.Z.
at September 26, 2008 9:18 PM
comment #18
janee
says ...
Si vous etes interesses par le dossier, ou desirez en savoir plus, contactez-moi par mail, et je vous mettrai en contact.
Best regards,Jane, CEO of high availability clusters
Posted by janee
at May 18, 2011 4:10 AM