An actor that I really like.
From the diner on, he was pretty good.
Seems I’m either missing his pix, or he’s not working.
What became of him?
He’s still working. He had some plastic surgery to try and fix the damage done by years of not being a good boxer and looks kinda gross now.
But he was in Once upon a time in Mexico and will be in Sin CIty, coming out later this year.
‘Rourke’?
There’s always his IMDB entry.
Here’s a little bit on the plastic surgery.
I really thought he was going to be big when I saw him in Angel Heart. Oh, well. I’ll still always love the part where he strikes a match on the dead guys shoe. Damn, that was shocking. And much cooler than anything DeNiro pulled trying to be all badass and scary.
He’s in the upcoming Sin City
Really? How’d you know that?
Apparently, a not-so-silent goldish told me.
What happened to Mickey Rourke? His career certainly had a lot of potential in the early 80’s but, basically, he let his ego get the best of him.
I don’t know if this is a good analogy but, to me, Rourke’s career reminds me a lot of those promsing young professional athletes who, in their first few seasons, seem to be on the cusp of greatness. If the guy’s a baseball player, comparisons are inevitably made to past greats like Willie Mays or Ted Williams. If he plays football, it might be to Joe Montana or Jim Brown. For basketball, it’ll be somebody like Bill Russell or Michael Jordan. Of course, at that point, the athlete will not have yet done anything that’s actually comparable to anything those immortals did. He’ll have a good rookie season and maybe a couple solid follow-up years under his belt but that truly outstanding year where he burns up the league has yet to happen. Still, on the basis that he’s on the verge of greatness, he’ll inevitably demand–and get–a contract worth millions of dollars. However, instead of fulfilling his promise, he’ll muddle through one lackluster season after another to the disappointment of the fans and the media. All the while, he’ll continue to carry on like he’s the greatest thing his sport has ever seen and he’s already got a spot in the Hall of Fame. Then, his contract will run out, and he’ll be dumbfounded on why nobody wants to pay him $3.5 million (let alone $10 million) a year so he can grace a team with his presence.
When Mickey Rourke broke through in the early 80’s with his performances in movies like Body Heat and Diner, people were likening him to Brando, Robert DeNiro, and Steve McQueen. It just seemed inevitable that his next movie would be a commercial blockbuster and/or Oscar-nominated success. On that basis, he started demanding (and getting) millions of dollars per picture without really having the box office clout or unanimous critical support to warrant all the hype. Of course, with the possible exception of 9 1/2 Weeks, the films all turned out to be critical and commercial disappointments if not outright bombs. In his performances, Rourke seemed to give off a smug “too cool for this room” vibe that turned audiences off and even the critics who championed his earlier work got tired of waiting for him to live up to his potential. Add to that, his diva-like set demands, his off-screen antics, and his inexplicable pursuit of a boxing career and you pretty much have someone who effectively squandered all his early promise. Rourke believed his own hype and continued to believe it long after everyone else consigned him to the “next-big-thing-that-never-was” pile.
Anyway, I’ve gone on too long about this subject. Since he now has a number of films in the pipeline, Rourke can still turn things around career-wise. Perhaps, if he finally lives up to some of his potential, he’ll have enough maturity to handle it better.
I read an interview with Mickey Rourke and he claimed he pissed-off the wrong people in Hollywood so getting work was elusive.
He was pretty beefed-up in Stallones, “Get Carter”. Possible Steroids? Looks alot different than, “Johnny Handsome”. Check out “Get Carter” good Flick.
I’m pretty much in agreement with everything NDP posted. But I’d like to add that Roarke, like Marlon Brando, often spoke distainfully of the acting profession and said how disgraceful it was that anyone could make money acting. However neither man was so appalled by the business that they were willing to leave it. Their dislike for the projects they grudgingly agreed to appear in was reflecting in their performances and both lost their audience.
Hi, I’m actor Mickey Rourke. You might remember me from such movies as Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, opposite Don Johnson, and Double Team, opposite Jean Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman. No? Good.
That’s what happened to Mickey Rourke.
He did a goo job in Spun, better than the movie was worth.
Other than that, I agree with everything that’s been said.
The films Case Sensitive mentions were after he had already begun to slide.
His real jump-the-shark moment was Barfly. This was his chance to live up to his potential, and he came across smug and dismissive. Plus the character he played was even smugger. Plus the film was really depressing.