NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > MICKEY ROURKE CONTINUES TO WRESTLE CAREER INTO SUBMISSION

MICKEY ROURKE CONTINUES TO WRESTLE CAREER INTO SUBMISSION

February 18 2009

Hollywood, CA – With potential Oscar accolades just days away, Mickey Rourke has turned yet another high profile role as his film career continues to move in ebbs and waves. Rourke had been long rumoured to play the villain in the sequel to the smash summer hit ‘Iron Man’ but has apparently turned down the opportunity to star in the inevitable smash hit over a lowball paycheque. Rourke has also reportedly turned down an opportunity to reprise the character of Marv in the sequel to the hit, and root of his recent resurgent career, ‘Sin City’.

Before his ‘comeback’ in the acclaimed ‘The Wrestler’, Rourke had been the poster boy for career self destruction. A rising star in the eighties with hits like ‘Nine ½ Weeks’ and ‘Barfly’, drug and alcohol abuse as well as a failed stint as a professional boxer left him largely unemployable until his role in ‘Sin City’ and more significantly ‘The Wrestler’. Now, with an Oscar nomination and the most good will his career has ever had, Rourke seems to be doing his best to body slam his good fortune out of existence.

“Rourke had appeared in a few big movies but in small roles. It wasn’t until ‘Sin City’ that people started to notice him again and he has of course spit in the face of Robert Rodriguez by not appearing. As for ‘Iron Man 2’, well sure they may have low balled him as far as a paycheque goes but that kind of exposure is worth far more than a few thousand dollars,”
< said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “Of course that may exactly what Rourke is looking to do. Kill his career every twenty years and then mount a comeback. At 56 years old though, he can really only do that one more time before, well, he dies. That’s if, and I stress if, his hard living doesn’t kill him early like it really should.”

Rourke is currently filming ‘The Expendables’ with fellow eighties comeback kid Sylvester Stallone. He also has ‘The Informers’ releasing next year alongside his ‘Nine ½ Weeks’ co-star Kim Basinger, a movie that has been resting in film purgatory for two years and has received vicious early reviews.

“It’s ironic that ‘The Wrestler’ is about a washed up wrestler trying to make a comeback, and who ultimately fails in that comeback. The connection to Rourke the man is obvious, but he didn’t need to follow the plot to the end. The whole point of that movie
wasn’t to emulate the character, but to learn from his mistakes and not make them yourself. Rourke maybe should have learned that lesson,” continued Temple. “There is of course no reason to take every film role that is presented to you but you should be on the look-out for high quality films with high-quality talent attached and not bet your future on starring next to Dolph Lundgren."

The star of ‘Iron Man’, Robert Downey Jr. is of course another comeback story from the eighties. Downey, on the verge of becoming a bonafied box office and critical star ruined his momentum with drugs, alcohol, and self abuse. Unlike Rourke though, Downey has taken his comeback with humility and respect and Rourke, well he’s just kind of spitting in the face of fate.

“Redemption is largely a literary and religious concept and achieving it in real life is quite rare. There are very few times when people are given a second chance at the big time in the real world and Rourke is one of those lucky few,” said Scrape TV Literary analyst Samuel Lee. “Redemption, or salvation is an ultimate fantasy concept. Righting your wrongs, showing those who doubted or betrayed you
what you are worth, it’s something most people never get the opportunity to experience and Rourke is in the middle of that. Add to that his shot at real stardom which is something that eludes thousands, even millions, and he is throwing all that away. Whether that is arrogance, delusion, or self destruction only Rourke can know.”

The Academy Awards will be handed out this weekend. No word on whether Rourke intends to piledrive his should he win.

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > MICKEY ROURKE CONTINUES TO WRESTLE CAREER INTO SUBMISSION