I thought, 'I'm going to come back and go to work again', and they said, 'The way you behaved, no, you are not', but I'm only here today because of what happened when I fell so low. "The 1990s were terrible for me because I had taken off five-and-a-half years to go back to boxing, which I wanted to do one more time before I was a geriatric. It was as though he was trying to destroy the looks with which he had set the screen alight.
BODY HEAT MOVIE MICKEY ROURKE PROFESSIONAL
After Rourke's career and private life virtually imploded in the 90s, he trained as a professional boxer and spent five-and-a-half years in the ring. The choice of Rourke to play Ram, a washed-up wrestler, was inspired and courageous. Now, I look in the mirror and go, 'I don't want to go back to that dark place for the rest of my life. "I wasn't accountable for anything, I wasn't responsible for anything, there was no fear. "Before, when I looked in the mirror, I knew that person and how he would react, because with the old me there were no rules," he says, in that unmistakable, husky voice. Supporting roles in movies such as Animal Factory and Sin City saw Rourke regain his credibility as an actor but now, aged 52 and after almost two decades away from the Hollywood A-list, he is as surprised as anyone that he's here. Today, Rourke reflects on what he had and lost, and how grateful he is for the opportunity director Darren Aronofsky offered him. He walked off the set of Luck of the Draw because the producers wouldn't let his chihuahua appear in a scene with him. He would fight with producers, show up late and not learn his lines.
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Directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and Sean Penn lauded his talent, but unfortunately Rourke had a seriously selfdestructive streak. Rourke could have been a serious contender and heir to the legacy of Robert De Niro, to whom he was often compared when he first appeared, smouldering in movies such as Body Heat and Rumblefish. All this, in spite of the troubled life he has lived for the last 15 years. He is in Los Angeles to talk up his comeback lead role in the low budget movie, The Wrestler, about which there is already much Oscar buzz. Mickey Rourke kisses his pet chihuahua on the mouth before handing him to an assistant, then turns and walks towards me, looking as guilty as a working mother. Now playing the lead in The Wrestler, he tells Patricia Danaher how his new movie offered both personal and professional redemption
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His was the face that set the screen alight in Body Heat, but Mickey Rourke pressed the selfdestruct button.