comment #1

BurmaShave says ...

I'll take New Rourke any day, The Cook, Marv, not to mention his delirious monologue in MASKED & ANONYMOUS which I would rate as funny as anything in BANANAS.

comment #2

Jamieson says ...

FYI, Wrestler is actually the Closing Night film. Changeling is the centerpiece. Hopefully I'll attend both.

comment #3

Kristopher Tapley says ...

I think this film is going to offer a showcase performance from Mickey...despite the "work."

comment #4

NC Gary says ...

Why did he have so much plastic surgery? Was he in an accident?

comment #5

jimjonesiii says ...

boxing.

comment #6

jimjonesiii says ...

But what I really want to now is this: why did he leave "Death Proof"?

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

Shit I forgot he was gonna be Stuntman Mike. I don't actually know if that would have worked. Kurt Russell was so indelible, but also it seemed important to me he was a pretty attractive guy who'd turned into a loser and thought he was much more hideous than he was. Plus the way Russell brilliantly turned into a pussy at the end, I don't know if that is in Rourke's wheelhouse.

comment #8

Mgmax says ...

Russell was absolutely wonderful, for all those reasons-- for being just a little too windy to be charming, for the way he baited the hook for his victims so patiently, for pussing out at the end which was hilarious. Even when Tarantino nearly sucks, there's one performance that's just beautiful in the midst of it all.

The problem with Rourke is the work around the eyes. All those guys with Chinese eyes end up looking like they're wearing Halloween masks; Rourke's bright eyes were what made his looks appealing, once.

comment #9

nemo says ...

Rourke got extremely smashed up pursuing his insane boxing career. He more or less said that boxing was a real man's work, and acting was too faggoty, or something along those lines.

He dissed something he was good at, and got the crap beat out of himself repeatedly doing something he wasn't all that good at. Other people may remember better, but I think he followed up all that facial destruction with some not very good reconstruction.

comment #10

Mgmax says ...

And yet he didn't get a role in Fight Club.

comment #11

cjKennedy says ...

No excitement that Che is playing?

comment #12

MilkMan says ...

Mickey Rourke has always made me feel uncomfortable, especially back when he was beautiful, during my freshmen and sophmore years of high school, because the girl I lusted after, C_______S_______, would always make sure to let me know that she would drop her panties for Rourke if she ever came across him in public, which I didn't doubt, seeing as how her 15 year old taste in men ran skewed towards 25 year old bodybuilder/boucer types.

One time she was talking about 9 1/2 weeks with some of her girlfriends, a conversation I wedged myself into, and she said to me, You know that scene in the movie where he kind of like rapes her? (I had no idea what she was talking about because I hadn't seen the movie yet, but I nodded anyway), well that's excatly the way you're supposed to do it.

This both frightened me and turned me on at the same time, because I really didn't want to rape C_____S_______, not as long as I could avoid it, yet it seemed like C______S________was offering me a tip on how to unlock her box, a tip she knew I would never act on.

For weeks all I could think about was Mickey Rourke raping C_____S_____, her sweet angel face being twisted into paroxysms of pleasure.

I'm listening to the Bilitis soundtrack right now and it's all coming back to me.

comment #13

p.Vice says ...

Hmm... maybe you could say he's been living Johnny Handsome in reverse.

Who gives a fuck about his face? I've been waiting years for him to get another shot at the big time and I'm praying this is it. Finally, something to get excited about.

And Burma, are you saying you'll take Sin City and Spun over, say, Year of the Dragon and Barfly? That's like walking into a whorehouse and choosing the girl with unshaved armpits and pus oozing out of her snatch.

comment #14

MilkMan says ...

Rourke's performance in HOMEBOY is one of the strangest I've ever seen. The whole performance is located in his jaw.

His reaction when he sees his new face in JOHNNY HANDSOME is a stellar piece of acting.

He was even good in EUREKA (Hackman's death scene in that movie is very unsettling, makes the end of THERE WILL BE BLOOD look like the Punch and Judy show it really was, although for my money, the most unsettling cinematic death ever is the fire extinguisher to the face during the RECTUM scene at the beginning of IRREVERSIBLE) as a slimy attorney

comment #15

Richardson says ...

MM - the "C___ S___" post is one of the best things I've ever read. Even by your standards, that was a wonderful post.

comment #16

Richardson says ...

Is 'Homeboy' the one with Walken singing karaoke? I was kind of shocked that a scene involving Walken singing karaoke could fall as flat as the scene in which Walken sings karaoke in whichever Mickey Rourke movie has Walken singing karaoke in it.

comment #17

sumo-pop says ...

I too am a big fan of Mick's work from the 80s and miss his former physical appearance. However, I am in no way ready to give up on him. His small parts in Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Man On Fire gave him some momentum and his work in Sin City was revelatory. I will also throw in his work in Domino. Whatever you make think of that crazy Natural Born Killers knock off (and I mean that as a compliment) the line he delivered when his partner broke into his motel room and destroyed the tv while Mick was watching porn had me laughing so hysterically I nearly embarrassed myself. Yes, I'm not sure what this says about me but I'm ready for The Wrestler.

comment #18

hatchetface says ...

Milkman: Bravo.

comment #19

sumo-pop says ...

I too am a big fan of Mick's work from the 80s and miss his former physical appearance. However, I am in no way ready to give up on him. His small parts in Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Man On Fire gave him some momentum and his work in Sin City was revelatory. I will also throw in his work in Domino. Whatever you make think of that crazy Natural Born Killers knock off (and I mean that as a compliment) the line he delivered when his partner broke into his motel room and destroyed the tv while Mick was watching porn had me laughing so hysterically I nearly embarrassed myself. Yes, I'm not sure what this says about me but I'm ready for The Wrestler.

comment #20

sumo-pop says ...

I too am a big fan of Mick's work from the 80s and miss his former physical appearance. However, I am in no way ready to give up on him. His small parts in Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Man On Fire gave him some momentum and his work in Sin City was revelatory. I will also throw in his work in Domino. Whatever you make think of that crazy Natural Born Killers knock off (and I mean that as a compliment) the line he delivered when his partner broke into his motel room and destroyed the tv while Mick was watching porn had me laughing so hysterically I nearly embarrassed myself. Yes, I'm not sure what this says about me but I'm ready for The Wrestler.

comment #21

sumo-pop says ...

I too am a big fan of Mick's work from the 80s and miss his former physical appearance. However, I am in no way ready to give up on him. His small parts in Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Man On Fire gave him some momentum and his work in Sin City was revelatory. I will also throw in his work in Domino. Whatever you make think of that crazy Natural Born Killers knock off (and I mean that as a compliment) the line he delivered when his partner broke into his motel room and destroyed the tv while Mick was watching porn had me laughing so hysterically I nearly embarrassed myself. Yes, I'm not sure what this says about me but I'm ready for The Wrestler.

comment #22

sumo-pop says ...

I too am a big fan of Mick's work from the 80s and miss his former physical appearance. However, I am in no way ready to give up on him. His small parts in Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Man On Fire gave him some momentum and his work in Sin City was revelatory. I will also throw in his work in Domino. Whatever you make think of that crazy Natural Born Killers knock off (and I mean that as a compliment) the line he delivered when his partner broke into his motel room and destroyed the tv while Mick was watching porn had me laughing so hysterically I nearly embarrassed myself. Yes, I'm not sure what this says about me but I'm ready for The Wrestler.

comment #23

Richardson says ...

I, for one, wonder what sumo-pop thinks about Mickey Rourke. If only there were some way he could post his thoughts.

comment #24

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

Dude *almost* played the lead in HIGHLANDER.

Can you imagine what that flick'd be like if Lambert hadn't done it? It's such an astonishing thought that I'm having a hard time just putting this all into words.

Then again, dude also *almost* played Axel Foley, *almost* played Eliot Ness, *almost* played Stuntman Mike...

comment #25

lazespud says ...

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing that other 80s (well, late 80s) icon, Marisa Tomei, who seems to have taken the opposite road from Roarke and gotten even better looking over the years. And she plays a stripper in this thing.

comment #26

/3rtfu11 says ...

God he use to be fine. Had more sex appeal than Dick Gere, Val Kilmer or TomCat.

comment #27

BurmaShave says ...

pVice, thanks for the appetizing image, but yes, I absolutely would. No particular fan of SPUN besides his work in it, but I'd take SIN CITY over both of those.

comment #28

BurmaShave says ...

Also, Aronofsky needs to insist that Mickey be cast in the lead of his ROBOCOP reboot. Imagine him as a grizzled cop burned out and months away from retirement turned into the cyborg.

comment #29

/3rtfu11 says ...

http://gxpmall.com/mickey_rourke.jpg

comment #30

Mr. Buckles says ...

The thing about Mickey Rourke is that he seems to be trying to actually reverse the plot from his starring turn in Johnny Handsome.

I resent the guy because he created this really misguided sense of male sexuality (I can't even believe I just wrote that). In short, he made it cool to behave like a douchebag and think that all women want to be screwed in public with condiments.

I had a college roomate who particularly worshipped at the altar of Rourke and subscribed to this mantra. I recall being at a dinner formal and he was fingering his "classy" girlfriend under the table. It was so absurd that it became almost normal, like, "yeah, this is what he does. it's sooo him."

Of course my date, not si much and I had to mock condemn it (I just thought it was good for cheap laughs - my life is richer for having seen this assclownery).

Just sayin'

comment #31

T. S. Idiot says ...

Boy loves his doggie.

comment #32

lionsfan says ...

Met a guy at a birthday party who'd been part of the lighting crew for "The Wrestler." According to him, it is REALLY low budget, so much so that they filmed quite a bit at a bar I've actually hung around in in Clifton, NJ called Dingo's Den, a kind of rough place frequented by ex-felons and bikers. (Most of the crew also watched "The Fountain" together by way of taking some measure of the guy who was set to be their boss on this one.)

Anyway, supposedly Mickey Rourke was completely unapproachable by the groundlings on this one, Stayed in his trailer, ate with nobody else, etc. If true, odd behavior for someone whose career is so clearly in the dumps that he should be grateful just for the chance to work. And he really dies play a wrestler, so it's appropriate that much of the film was shot in the Passaic-Clifton area which once famously provided a lot of the 2nd and 3rd-stringers who were once staples on the east coast pro wrestling circuit (such as Jack "The Neck" Vansky and Teddy "Golden Boy" Brewer).

comment #33

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comment #34

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