comment #1

Rod32303 says ...

You'll have a BATTLE from us Penn heads! Penn was pretty fucking awesome on Tavis Smiley last week.

comment #2

The Winchester says ...

the big test will be tomorrow, if Rourke shows up at the WWE event in LA. If he does that, he's blown it.

(Still, I think win or lose, I would like to see him at Wrestlemania. Just because it's Mickey Rourke, and it would erase the taste of "Double Team" from my mouth)

comment #3

a1 says ...

Worth a look just for the chance Rourke gets pissed off enough at Rose's 5-minute-long "questions" to body-slam him.

comment #4

BurmaShave says ...

Penn is a humorless tool in real life, and each of his talk show appearances can only hurt his chances. He's brilliant in MILK, but this is not his year, nor should it be.

comment #5

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Amen, Burma.

And that really has nothing to do with it, Winchester. A large part of his appeal (or lack thereof) as an actor is based on the fact that while he has had ups and downs in his life, he has never really followed the rules of what the GREAT AMERICAN ACTOR should do next to further position his career. Double Team was fucking awful, but in a strange way, I kind of love the fact that he's in that.

At this point, people are either down with him or they're not -- some silly WWE stunt ain't gonna decide squat.

I do think it's come down to Penn and Rourke, though. And I suspect the voting will be extremely tight. They were both very good, but when it comes right down to it, I guess I'd much rather shoot the shit with Rourke over a cold brewski than be lectured by Penn while sipping champagne...is that wrong?

comment #6

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

I'll just go one step further (and risk any credibility whatsoever) by honestly saying I'd rather watch Rourke smack down with Van-Damme in the roman coliseum in that batshit finale of Double Team than to suffer through Penn in that pretentious, Oscar-baitin' Mystic River again.

Yeah, I said it.

comment #7

LexG says ...

Absolutely love Rourke, like The Wrestler, even like Double Team, so NO disrespect is intented here against Mickey or Penn or Clint or anyone;

But they should seriously give out an award called The Eastwood to the nominee who makes the rounds and hits the circuit the absolute hardest not so much to promote the movie itself but rather to win their own acting or directing award.

Rourke would handily win this year. Again, I guess it's part of the game now, and he's doing an excellent job of handling this and navigating the politics this time around.

I just have to ask to you guys who've been in the game for a long time: Did actors used to go on talk shows this obviously to keep their name at the forefront of Oscar voter minds? It seems with recent Penn and Rourke interviews, the intended audience of these appearances is not prospective viewers of MILK or THE WRESTLER to whom a ticket could be sold, but rather the extremely small number of Academy members who might be watching.

comment #8

The Winchester says ...

Citizen- I wholeheartedly agree with your Double Team over Mystic River sentiment.

comment #9

Jeffrey Kunze says ...

Wow, haven't posted here in about 6 months.

Hope Rourke wins as well.

Check out my short review of The Wrestler (there are a bunch of other reviews if you scroll down, Encounters at the End of the World, Benjamin Button, Synecdoche, etc)

http://www.dancinghotdogs.com/?cat=474

comment #10

corey3rd says ...

Andre the Giant should have been nominated for supporting actor on Princess Bride.

The thing is that The Wrestler hasn't cracked $17 million. Mickey still needs to connect to the millions of folks that would directly want to see the film - Pro Wrestling fans. So he plays up the angle. This isn't like when Ben Stiller pimped Mystery Men on Raw.

comment #11

BurmaShave says ...

So far he's acing this interview. Very candid and very charming.

comment #12

Rod32303 says ...

He's a cool cat, Mickey Rourke. And it's obvious that he and Sean Penn have a twenty plus year friendship that will outlive any of this petty bullshit we're all having so much fun sparring about. Rourke was gracious and downright loving towards Penn, who believed in him when many others didn't. That was cool to hear.

I will be happy for him if he gets to walk up on that stage at the Kodak Theatre. It sounds like Sean Penn will be, too.. Rourke is a class fucking act.And this is coming from someone who thinks Penn gave the performance of the year in Milk (and who secretly still hopes it's Penn)

Charlie Rose was driving me fucking crazy, though.