Mickey Rourke is a superb actor, however he hasn’t made it straightforward on himself — or others. He got here charging out of the gate within the early Nineteen Eighties as arsonist Teddy Lewis in Lawrence Kasdan’s neo-noir “Physique Warmth” and hellraiser Boogie Sheftell in Barry Levinson’s masterful “Diner.” After standout performances in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish” and Stuart Rosenberg’s “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” he gave the impression to be one position away from his first Academy Award nomination.
Although Rourke continued to show in excellent work for prime administrators, phrase obtained out round Hollywood that his habits on set was getting unnervingly erratic. After directing him in 1987’s “Angel Coronary heart,” Alan Parker stated, “Working with Mickey is a nightmare. He’s harmful on set since you by no means know what he’s going to do.” Then, on the outset of the Nineteen Nineties, he fell off the business’s A-list by giving awful performances in atrocious movies like “Wild Orchid” and “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man.” He appeared washed up till 1997, when he delivered a enjoyable flip in Tsui Hark’s zany “Double Workforce” and reunited with Coppola for a supporting position in “The Rainmaker.” Tony Scott started casting him with some frequency as effectively, and whereas he was not in a personality actor groove, the work was no less than attention-grabbing once more, if not downright nice.
If you happen to’re considering Rourke is the form of underrated veteran actor who would’ve been a first-rate candidate for a job in a Quentin Tarantino film, effectively, he was. Twice. As soon as for the position of prize fighter Butch in “Pulp Fiction” (which went to Bruce Willis), and once more for killer Stuntman Mike in “Loss of life Proof” (ultimately performed by Kurt Russell). How did he miss out?
Rourke’s out-of-control ego saved him out of the ring in Pulp Fiction
In a 2009 interview with The Each day Mail, Rourke revealed that he was Tarantino’s first alternative for Butch. He blew it, nonetheless, by letting his ego get the higher of him. As he instructed the Mail, “I did not even learn the script. I allowed myself to get proud and indignant as a result of I may do the performing. I believed I would need to be lifeless to not f***ing work.'” Willis wound up incomes an Oscar nomination for Greatest Supporting Actor for his efficiency.
That was the Rourke of 1993, who was making all types of dangerous selections (which included dabbling in skilled boxing). 13 years later, he’d been humbled sufficient that he understood the worth of labor, whereas additionally understanding that an entire slew of nice administrators revered him as an actor. So, when Tarantino got here calling with the position of Stuntman Mike in “Loss of life Proof,” you’d suppose Rourke would’ve leapt on the alternative. This time round, it was the actor’s brokers who saved him out of the image.
In a 2021 interview with Joe Rogan, Tarantino defined, “My first alternative was Mickey Rourke. It was going to be Mickey, and Mickey wished to do it, however then his brokers began … effectively, his brokers stated, ‘Effectively, they want Mickey.’ And so the brokers began f***ing with us.”
Quentin Tarantino did not really feel like enjoying video games with Rourke’s agent
By enjoying hardball, the agent price Rourke the half. Per Tarantino:
“It was a type of issues the place Robert [Rodriguez] was doing his film ‘Planet Terror’ first [for ‘Grindhouse’], so I am ready to do mine when he is performed. And the agent was f***ing round with us, and I used to be actually like, ‘This is one of many gives,’ you could have till 9 o’clock Friday evening to simply accept or reject, and so they simply let that deadline blow-by, and so, that was it.”
If there’s an upside right here, it is that “Grindhouse” was a large flop, and that, two years later, Rourke would lastly land his first Oscar nomination for Greatest Actor as a struggling skilled wrestler in “The Wrestler.” (He was thought of the favourite, however many individuals consider that his bad-boy previous price him the trophy.) Nonetheless, Tarantino and Rourke really feel like such an awesome match. Now that Tarantino has pledged that his subsequent movie might be his final, they’ve solely obtained yet one more alternative to hook up.
