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Mickey Rourke
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A Minute With: Mickey Rourke talking "Immortals"
By Zorianna Kit | Reuters – Wed, Nov 9, 2011
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mickey Rourke, known for years as a Hollywood bad boy, was perhaps the perfect choice to portray a bad boy of Greek mythology, brutal King Hyperion, in the 3D action movie "Immortals" opening in theaters on Friday.
Directed by Tarsem Singh, the movie sees Rourke's evil king on a murderous mission to vanquish both humankind and the Gods of Olympus. But he meets his match in a young stone mason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) who wants to avenge his mother's death. With the help of an Oracle (Freida Pinto) Theseus learns that it is also his destiny to stop Hyperion and save mankind.
Rourke spoke to Reuters about the film, overcoming his bad boy reputation and his beloved chihuahuas.
Q: King Hyperion is physically imposing and wears intricate face masks that almost look like weapons themselves. Was it a challenge wearing all that gear?
A: "There was a lot of stuff to put on. The shoes were 12 pounds (5.4 kgs) -- apiece. I took three wardrobe assistants to put on each little piece of paraphernalia because it was all layered."
Q: How was the shoot itself?
A: "I had just had bicep surgery in Heidelberg, Germany. I tore my bicep and the operation didn't work. Three weeks after the operation I lost my whole tendon, then the movie started. We shot during a sort of rehabilitation period for me so I wasn't really able to do much."
Q: Did getting a best actor Oscar nomination in 2009 for "The Wrestler" change things for you in Hollywood?
A: "Probably to a degree. The reputation I had for 20 years about being difficult and unprofessional is always going to stay. A lot of it was true, but I'm not really that way anymore. I am my own man, and I'm never going to just march to anybody's beat. But I was out of work for 12 years because of the mistakes I made. I don't blame anybody else but myself. I can't make the same mistakes again. I'd be foolish. Those years out of work were a terrible, lonely, pathetic, desperate time."
Q: Now that you have this new lease on your career, how can you sustain it so you don't lose it again?
A: "Well, it's a younger generation of directors and producers that I'm working with. Its not all the people that I (upset) so terribly. Most of those are out of the business or retired, thank God. The young filmmakers are fearless. (Darren) Arnonofsky, (Robert) Rodriguez, Tarsem (Singh), they don't care what people said about me 20 years ago."
Q: You're known for your love of chihuahuas -- your 18-year-old Loki passed away just days before the 2009 Oscar ceremony. How's life without her?
A: "I'm never going to be over her. You have that 18 and a-half year relationship. It's the longest I've had with anyone, with anything. When they wanted to give me a star on Hollywood Boulevard, I said 'I'll take it if they can put Loki's name there too.' They said 'no,' so I said 'no. If I can't have Loki's name there, I don't want my name there.'"
Q: Your next project is a screenplay you wrote called "The Beautiful Game," the real story of Gareth Thomas, the Welsh rugby star who announced he was gay. Where are you at with that?
A: "I've been training for six months physically and will train another six, then take three months to work on the Welsh accent. Hopefully by the end of March we can shoot in Wales."
Q: From a professional boxing career to starring in movies about wrestling and now rugby -- you really gravitate toward sports, don't you?
A: "That's what I love the most and that's what I miss the most. When you get to an age where you're getting too old to play sports or you can't play like you used to, it's a terrible feeling. You feel like you're slowly decaying. This will be the last time that I'm going to be able to get it up -- one last time to get physical -- at a point where I could still be respectable."
Q: What do you want your legacy to be?
A: "I don't want one. When I'm dead and gone, I won't care what they say about me."
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Patricia Reaney)
news.yahoo.com
----------------------------
EXCLUSIVE: Two Immortals Photos Featuring Mickey Rourke and Stephen Dorff
Nov 17, 2011 by B. Alan Orange
Immortals is a hit! Directed by acclaimed visual maestro Tarsem Singh and starring Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, the film went onto surprise everyone after its release last weekend, earning $32.2 million at the top of the box office. Now that word is out about how awesome the film is, Immortals is expected to continue it's momentum heading into its second weekend of release. If you haven't seen it yet, we have two exclusive photos for you to check out featuring co-stars Mickey Rourke and Stephen Dorff. Take a look below, and then make sure you head out to the theater this weekend.
Immortals was released November 11th, 2011 and stars Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Anne Day-Jones. The film is directed by Tarsem Singh.
movieweb.com
By Zorianna Kit | Reuters – Wed, Nov 9, 2011
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mickey Rourke, known for years as a Hollywood bad boy, was perhaps the perfect choice to portray a bad boy of Greek mythology, brutal King Hyperion, in the 3D action movie "Immortals" opening in theaters on Friday.
Directed by Tarsem Singh, the movie sees Rourke's evil king on a murderous mission to vanquish both humankind and the Gods of Olympus. But he meets his match in a young stone mason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) who wants to avenge his mother's death. With the help of an Oracle (Freida Pinto) Theseus learns that it is also his destiny to stop Hyperion and save mankind.
Rourke spoke to Reuters about the film, overcoming his bad boy reputation and his beloved chihuahuas.
Q: King Hyperion is physically imposing and wears intricate face masks that almost look like weapons themselves. Was it a challenge wearing all that gear?
A: "There was a lot of stuff to put on. The shoes were 12 pounds (5.4 kgs) -- apiece. I took three wardrobe assistants to put on each little piece of paraphernalia because it was all layered."
Q: How was the shoot itself?
A: "I had just had bicep surgery in Heidelberg, Germany. I tore my bicep and the operation didn't work. Three weeks after the operation I lost my whole tendon, then the movie started. We shot during a sort of rehabilitation period for me so I wasn't really able to do much."
Q: Did getting a best actor Oscar nomination in 2009 for "The Wrestler" change things for you in Hollywood?
A: "Probably to a degree. The reputation I had for 20 years about being difficult and unprofessional is always going to stay. A lot of it was true, but I'm not really that way anymore. I am my own man, and I'm never going to just march to anybody's beat. But I was out of work for 12 years because of the mistakes I made. I don't blame anybody else but myself. I can't make the same mistakes again. I'd be foolish. Those years out of work were a terrible, lonely, pathetic, desperate time."
Q: Now that you have this new lease on your career, how can you sustain it so you don't lose it again?
A: "Well, it's a younger generation of directors and producers that I'm working with. Its not all the people that I (upset) so terribly. Most of those are out of the business or retired, thank God. The young filmmakers are fearless. (Darren) Arnonofsky, (Robert) Rodriguez, Tarsem (Singh), they don't care what people said about me 20 years ago."
Q: You're known for your love of chihuahuas -- your 18-year-old Loki passed away just days before the 2009 Oscar ceremony. How's life without her?
A: "I'm never going to be over her. You have that 18 and a-half year relationship. It's the longest I've had with anyone, with anything. When they wanted to give me a star on Hollywood Boulevard, I said 'I'll take it if they can put Loki's name there too.' They said 'no,' so I said 'no. If I can't have Loki's name there, I don't want my name there.'"
Q: Your next project is a screenplay you wrote called "The Beautiful Game," the real story of Gareth Thomas, the Welsh rugby star who announced he was gay. Where are you at with that?
A: "I've been training for six months physically and will train another six, then take three months to work on the Welsh accent. Hopefully by the end of March we can shoot in Wales."
Q: From a professional boxing career to starring in movies about wrestling and now rugby -- you really gravitate toward sports, don't you?
A: "That's what I love the most and that's what I miss the most. When you get to an age where you're getting too old to play sports or you can't play like you used to, it's a terrible feeling. You feel like you're slowly decaying. This will be the last time that I'm going to be able to get it up -- one last time to get physical -- at a point where I could still be respectable."
Q: What do you want your legacy to be?
A: "I don't want one. When I'm dead and gone, I won't care what they say about me."
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Patricia Reaney)
news.yahoo.com
----------------------------
EXCLUSIVE: Two Immortals Photos Featuring Mickey Rourke and Stephen Dorff
Nov 17, 2011 by B. Alan Orange
Immortals is a hit! Directed by acclaimed visual maestro Tarsem Singh and starring Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, the film went onto surprise everyone after its release last weekend, earning $32.2 million at the top of the box office. Now that word is out about how awesome the film is, Immortals is expected to continue it's momentum heading into its second weekend of release. If you haven't seen it yet, we have two exclusive photos for you to check out featuring co-stars Mickey Rourke and Stephen Dorff. Take a look below, and then make sure you head out to the theater this weekend.
Immortals was released November 11th, 2011 and stars Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt, Joseph Morgan, Anne Day-Jones. The film is directed by Tarsem Singh.
movieweb.com
Mickey Rourke thinks most actresses are 'c----s', fancies Aussie babe Isabel Lucas though
24. Nov. 2011
You visited a Russian prison to prepare for your role in Iron Man 2. How did you prepare to play an ancient Greek Titan king for Immortals?
I showed up. The director spent three years working on the overall look of the film and that really helped. They paid me a lot of money for a few days of work so I was happy to go. It's just a shame I didn't get to work with the hot blond chick, Isabel Lucas. I also loved Frieda Pinto, but she has a boyfriend. She's a really nice person and I have great respect for her as an actress - and I think most actresses are c---s with a capital K.
celebrities.ninemsn.com.au
-------------------------
Mickey Rourke on Partying His Way Out of a Career
Nov 21, 2011 12:00 AM EST
I made the mistake one time of staying out four nights in a row when I had to work. I’m talking four nights in a row! I was doing a movie called The Pope of Greenwich Village, which is probably my favorite film I’ve made, working with one of my favorite actors, Eric Roberts. After four nights of partying, we had a scene at a bar. Eric had all the dialogue. It was right after lunch, and I was so tired I said to the director, Stuart Rosenberg, “I think my character should sit.” I said that because I couldn’t stand. I put dark glasses on. Eric had to speak, and suddenly I was sound asleep. I almost fell flat on my face, but nobody knew about it until this day.
At the time, I was out chasing girls. There was a place called Heartbreak in New York that we used to go to. It was open until 4. I would pick up girls and drink and dance. That was the norm. I’d catch maybe two hours of sleep in the morning and nap at lunch. My career started in the ’80s and ended in the ’90s because of that nightlife. That was a mistake, burning the candle at both ends. You can’t wait to get to where you have to get, and I took a fast dive off the mountain, and I wasn’t even at the top.
I saw that so much politics was involved with moviemaking. I thought it was all about hard work and actors like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. But you can be mediocre and still be a movie star. To me, when I learned that, it ruined everything. Then I hated it. I went off the tracks right away. I didn’t care about the consequences. There are consequences. Even now, look at some of the young movie stars today from the United States—they are ****. The best guys are coming out of the United Kingdom and Australia.
Mickey Rouke, Jason Bell / Camera Press-Retna
When you lose everything, and I mean everything, you sit there in this empty room in the dark, and the only person who can get you out is you. The hardest thing in life to do is to change. I worked really hard to make the changes. I went to therapy. I realized the person I molded myself into was strong in one part, but he was weak in others. I thought I could fix it in a year. It was a humbling, groveling, torturous experience that took 12 years. I learned from my mistake that you’ve got to keep working hard. If I could do it again, I’d do it differently. I would have been accountable.
Interview by Ramin Setoodeh
thedailybeast.com
24. Nov. 2011
You visited a Russian prison to prepare for your role in Iron Man 2. How did you prepare to play an ancient Greek Titan king for Immortals?
I showed up. The director spent three years working on the overall look of the film and that really helped. They paid me a lot of money for a few days of work so I was happy to go. It's just a shame I didn't get to work with the hot blond chick, Isabel Lucas. I also loved Frieda Pinto, but she has a boyfriend. She's a really nice person and I have great respect for her as an actress - and I think most actresses are c---s with a capital K.
celebrities.ninemsn.com.au
-------------------------
Mickey Rourke on Partying His Way Out of a Career
Nov 21, 2011 12:00 AM EST
I made the mistake one time of staying out four nights in a row when I had to work. I’m talking four nights in a row! I was doing a movie called The Pope of Greenwich Village, which is probably my favorite film I’ve made, working with one of my favorite actors, Eric Roberts. After four nights of partying, we had a scene at a bar. Eric had all the dialogue. It was right after lunch, and I was so tired I said to the director, Stuart Rosenberg, “I think my character should sit.” I said that because I couldn’t stand. I put dark glasses on. Eric had to speak, and suddenly I was sound asleep. I almost fell flat on my face, but nobody knew about it until this day.
At the time, I was out chasing girls. There was a place called Heartbreak in New York that we used to go to. It was open until 4. I would pick up girls and drink and dance. That was the norm. I’d catch maybe two hours of sleep in the morning and nap at lunch. My career started in the ’80s and ended in the ’90s because of that nightlife. That was a mistake, burning the candle at both ends. You can’t wait to get to where you have to get, and I took a fast dive off the mountain, and I wasn’t even at the top.
I saw that so much politics was involved with moviemaking. I thought it was all about hard work and actors like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. But you can be mediocre and still be a movie star. To me, when I learned that, it ruined everything. Then I hated it. I went off the tracks right away. I didn’t care about the consequences. There are consequences. Even now, look at some of the young movie stars today from the United States—they are ****. The best guys are coming out of the United Kingdom and Australia.
Mickey Rouke, Jason Bell / Camera Press-Retna
When you lose everything, and I mean everything, you sit there in this empty room in the dark, and the only person who can get you out is you. The hardest thing in life to do is to change. I worked really hard to make the changes. I went to therapy. I realized the person I molded myself into was strong in one part, but he was weak in others. I thought I could fix it in a year. It was a humbling, groveling, torturous experience that took 12 years. I learned from my mistake that you’ve got to keep working hard. If I could do it again, I’d do it differently. I would have been accountable.
Interview by Ramin Setoodeh
thedailybeast.com
Q&A: Mickey Rourke uncut
November 24, 2011
By Neala Johnson
MICKEY Rourke stars as the baddest of all bad guys in the new swords 'n' sandals epic Immortals. Here he talks about everything from rugby to scumbags to title fights.
What is happening in Mickey Rourke world?
>> Right now I'm eating a cheeseburger.
Will that keep you happy?
>> For now. Until the sun goes down.
What happens then?
>> Heh. All hell breaks loose.
You seem to have been one of the busiest actors in the movie business over the past couple of years. Has it felt that way to you?
>> Not really, I took a year off to do some writing right after Immortals, so I feel well-rested now.
What have you been writing?
>> The Gareth Thomas story, about the rugby player. The more research I did and the more writing I did I realised I've gotta take a whole year off to train for it before I even think about doing it. So it took me several months to write the script and we've been in training for the last six months.
When will you start shooting?
>> Hopefully, end of March. It's called The Beautiful Game.
How does an American get so interested in a rugby story?
>> It all happened one night when I was in London promoting something and I ended up in a bar at 4 in the morning and met these four guys that played for Huddersfield. We were arm-wrestling, I tore my ligament, this guy, he was a front-row guy, he was just huge! We became friends, we kept in contact.
They gave me a magazine about their team and there happened to be an article in there about Gareth Thomas. Then a few months later there was a sports show on TV and they were talking about Gareth coming out of the closet and I thought, ‘F---, that would make a great movie'. I flew over to Wales, introduced myself and said, ‘I wanna do your story'.
Are you going to do a Welsh accent?
>> Yes, unfortunately (laughs). That's gonna take three months or four months ... That's gonna be part of the ground work.
What's going to harder – the accent or the physical side of the role?
>> Well, right now the physical thing is harder than I thought it was going to be. We've scheduled about 15 days of rugby in the movie and I'm just trying to get fit enough that I can do several things: running 30 metres at full speed ... Oh God. I actually moved my trainer into living with me now.
Alongside that, you also have a big fight scene in your latest film, Immortals. While doing these things, do you find yourself thinking, ‘I'm too old for this crap'?
>> I thought I was too old for this crap 10 years ago! Are you kidding? When I was 27, I got my first grey hairs in my beard and I was furious. And I was thinking, ‘F--- this man, we're not young for very long! It's all f---ing downhill in such a short period of time'. And (in October), Gareth announced his retirement.
I sent him a text and said, ‘Well, the first part is a lot of fun, the second half is less painful'. So I guess that applies to, you know, the second half.
Which half are you in now?
>> I'm in the fourth quarter! (Laughs) I'm in overtime.
You've got a big birthday coming up next year. How do you feel about 60?
>> No, we're not going to talk about that. I'm disgusted with it.
It's only a number.
>> Yup. Yeah right. Listen, I didn't like the birthday 20 years ago so let's ... F--- that.
So when you're presented with a role these days, do you have to really think about what it will require of you physically?
>> I have to say, ‘This will be this much work', because the way I work, I put my all into it and I grind it out really hard. So I have to pick and choose because I won't be at my all for everything, you know. This rugby, it'll probably be the most passionate and best movie I ever make in my life.
Has there been a film before this one that you've felt that way about?
>> No. This is it for me. It's all or nothing, the chips are all on the table. This is the last time that you'll see Mickey Rourke sprint 30 metres.
We hope – you haven't done it yet!
>> Oh no, we've been training for six months. We are gonna do it. I've got my trainer sitting here glaring at me now – making me eat a cheeseburger without the bread. He's relocated from Miami to New York so he's with me 24/7. He's the first thing I see in the morning ... (To his trainer) That's right, ‘thing', motherf---er. Tattooed, steroid motherf---er (laughs).
You've famously made this comeback in movies. When things started to turn around for you, were you clear what you wanted to do with your second chance?
>> I had clear in my mind that I couldn't behave the way I did, I had to be accountable for my actions and s--- that I said or some people I associated with. Because there are repercussions and in the old days I didn't give a f--- about repercussions. But when I was out of work for 12-13 years, it was a lonely, f---in' pathetic, ugly place to be. It would have been better if they just woulda just shut the lights off. Because it's better to have never been something than to have been something and just lose it. Especially in LA where it's a town built on envy and they can't f---in' wait to grind you into the cement. My point of view was, you know what, I'm gonna tell these motherf---ers when it's over, they're not gonna tell me. But I had to change a lot of my ways, I had to become something else, rather than what I turned myself into.
Did you believe if you'd turned yourself into that, you could turn it back around the other way?
>> Yeah, but it was equally as hard to take off the armour. It's like my shrink would say to me, 'Mick, there's no war goin' on, you're fighting it all by yourself. It's all in your head. You should have been born 200 years ago'.
You should have been a Greek god.
>> (Laughs) I have my nights.
Do you still find anyone is cautious about casting you?
>> Oh absolutely! Abso-f---in'-lutely. I just dealt with this scumbag producer from England on a movie where he wanted to treat me like a f---in' slave. I say, ‘F--- you', you know. I said, ‘What the f--- have you done?' I think he got a little bit of acclaim for something and I said, ‘Well take your arty farty to somebody else, this is the wrong train'.
The director of Immortals, Tarsem Singh, says he didn't direct you.
>> He did in his own way. What can I say, ‘Let him feel that?' No (laughs). He did. He's very smart. I would do something and then he would come over and it would be an adjustment and it would elevate my choice or my performance to another level. I think he brought the best out of me because he knew exactly what he wanted. If I made a choice that might not have been the best choice, he was full of really great ideas.
Some actors who have worked with you say they love the challenge of trying to keep up with the curveballs you're throwing them. Do you realise that is happening?
>> I think some of them talk about it but then when it actually happens they freeze. Or s---. Everybody wants the championship fight but you've gotta do the roadwork otherwise you're gonna get knocked flat on your ***. So if you're in shape, bring it, come on, let's see what you're made out of.
Who's the last actor you got on set with that you had to keep up with in that way?
>> De Niro was very concentrated actor. Eric Roberts, very talented actor. And there was a young kid who was really a very brave actor – he died, he OD'd, I forget his name – he was a bully, he was very good. God bless his soul. Not too many.
Do you feel like you're an easy guy to work with?
>> It depends. It depends how much I believe in the project, the director, the other actors. If I have a director like I had on The Wrestler – like Aronofsky – that pushes you to another level, then I love that. Somebody who's so smart. Tarsem is the same way, but more gentle; he's not a son of a b*tch like Darren is (laughs). But I would work with Darren in two seconds, you know. But it's almost a relief to work with somebody like Tarsem because he is so smart, he is so gentle, he doesn't break you down to where you're just exhausted at the end of the day.
The Darrens and the Tarsems must be harder to find.
>> Yeah, but those are the guys that I wanna work with, that challenge you. Darren elevated me; Tarsem elevated me in a different way. It was two different kinds of movies. Immortals was more just fun, going to work and having a good time, I didn't take it all that serious, it wasn't that kind of movie. Yet at moments you've gotta work just as hard, like, really.
Was Immortals a different style of filming with the 3D and a lot of green screen and so on?
>> Well that doesn't necessarily ... I think it's the subject matter, what's going on in the moment. Immortals is so far out, you can only personalise it so far.
So your character, King Hyperion, was it like playing a cartoon bad guy?
>> Yeah, but I still deliver the line how I would say it, and make it personal, but there wasn't that much, let's say, emotional stuff on the line, when you had to dig really deep. An emotional investment where like – Darren would say ‘Cut' and I'd still be crying, you know.
Did you come off The Wrestler set just exhausted?
>> Yeah, I had to see the doctor for like three days straight after that movie. The head doctor and the physical doctor. But that's why doing a movie like this I enjoy it to a degree because it's not all that, you don't have to flip out.
You seem to be given a more amazing look with each film you do. How did you feel looking in the mirror as this Immortals character?
>> Well I had a little bit to do with that, Tarsem had a little bit to do with that. I like movies where I can almost hide ... especially if I don't like the movie, they don't know it's me then (laughs).But I got a kick out of this one, so it was nice. We had a lot of clever people around, you know the wardrobe lady worked two years on the wardrobe, the sets were beautiful, Tarsem's a very visual shooter. So I did my performance and because they add so much to the movie, it's like taking a sip of water and there's all this s--- going on.
Do you feel like a tiny piece of a giant puzzle on a film like that?
>> Absolutely. Yeah. This kind of movie, I don't know if I would have done the movie – I don't think so – if it wasn't Tarsem. I just don't wanna do some 3D piece of crap, you know. At least if I'm gonna do something like this, let me work with the best guy and smartest group of people that are around.
Henry (Cavill) was very hard working, he was really into it, doing his push ups and flying around. And a very nice kid, gentleman. And I met Freida (Pinto) before and I like her, respect her, she's interesting, good person. So there wasn't any scumbags around, so there was no problems.
news.com.au
November 24, 2011
By Neala Johnson
MICKEY Rourke stars as the baddest of all bad guys in the new swords 'n' sandals epic Immortals. Here he talks about everything from rugby to scumbags to title fights.
What is happening in Mickey Rourke world?
>> Right now I'm eating a cheeseburger.
Will that keep you happy?
>> For now. Until the sun goes down.
What happens then?
>> Heh. All hell breaks loose.
You seem to have been one of the busiest actors in the movie business over the past couple of years. Has it felt that way to you?
>> Not really, I took a year off to do some writing right after Immortals, so I feel well-rested now.
What have you been writing?
>> The Gareth Thomas story, about the rugby player. The more research I did and the more writing I did I realised I've gotta take a whole year off to train for it before I even think about doing it. So it took me several months to write the script and we've been in training for the last six months.
When will you start shooting?
>> Hopefully, end of March. It's called The Beautiful Game.
How does an American get so interested in a rugby story?
>> It all happened one night when I was in London promoting something and I ended up in a bar at 4 in the morning and met these four guys that played for Huddersfield. We were arm-wrestling, I tore my ligament, this guy, he was a front-row guy, he was just huge! We became friends, we kept in contact.
They gave me a magazine about their team and there happened to be an article in there about Gareth Thomas. Then a few months later there was a sports show on TV and they were talking about Gareth coming out of the closet and I thought, ‘F---, that would make a great movie'. I flew over to Wales, introduced myself and said, ‘I wanna do your story'.
Are you going to do a Welsh accent?
>> Yes, unfortunately (laughs). That's gonna take three months or four months ... That's gonna be part of the ground work.
What's going to harder – the accent or the physical side of the role?
>> Well, right now the physical thing is harder than I thought it was going to be. We've scheduled about 15 days of rugby in the movie and I'm just trying to get fit enough that I can do several things: running 30 metres at full speed ... Oh God. I actually moved my trainer into living with me now.
Alongside that, you also have a big fight scene in your latest film, Immortals. While doing these things, do you find yourself thinking, ‘I'm too old for this crap'?
>> I thought I was too old for this crap 10 years ago! Are you kidding? When I was 27, I got my first grey hairs in my beard and I was furious. And I was thinking, ‘F--- this man, we're not young for very long! It's all f---ing downhill in such a short period of time'. And (in October), Gareth announced his retirement.
I sent him a text and said, ‘Well, the first part is a lot of fun, the second half is less painful'. So I guess that applies to, you know, the second half.
Which half are you in now?
>> I'm in the fourth quarter! (Laughs) I'm in overtime.
You've got a big birthday coming up next year. How do you feel about 60?
>> No, we're not going to talk about that. I'm disgusted with it.
It's only a number.
>> Yup. Yeah right. Listen, I didn't like the birthday 20 years ago so let's ... F--- that.
So when you're presented with a role these days, do you have to really think about what it will require of you physically?
>> I have to say, ‘This will be this much work', because the way I work, I put my all into it and I grind it out really hard. So I have to pick and choose because I won't be at my all for everything, you know. This rugby, it'll probably be the most passionate and best movie I ever make in my life.
Has there been a film before this one that you've felt that way about?
>> No. This is it for me. It's all or nothing, the chips are all on the table. This is the last time that you'll see Mickey Rourke sprint 30 metres.
We hope – you haven't done it yet!
>> Oh no, we've been training for six months. We are gonna do it. I've got my trainer sitting here glaring at me now – making me eat a cheeseburger without the bread. He's relocated from Miami to New York so he's with me 24/7. He's the first thing I see in the morning ... (To his trainer) That's right, ‘thing', motherf---er. Tattooed, steroid motherf---er (laughs).
You've famously made this comeback in movies. When things started to turn around for you, were you clear what you wanted to do with your second chance?
>> I had clear in my mind that I couldn't behave the way I did, I had to be accountable for my actions and s--- that I said or some people I associated with. Because there are repercussions and in the old days I didn't give a f--- about repercussions. But when I was out of work for 12-13 years, it was a lonely, f---in' pathetic, ugly place to be. It would have been better if they just woulda just shut the lights off. Because it's better to have never been something than to have been something and just lose it. Especially in LA where it's a town built on envy and they can't f---in' wait to grind you into the cement. My point of view was, you know what, I'm gonna tell these motherf---ers when it's over, they're not gonna tell me. But I had to change a lot of my ways, I had to become something else, rather than what I turned myself into.
Did you believe if you'd turned yourself into that, you could turn it back around the other way?
>> Yeah, but it was equally as hard to take off the armour. It's like my shrink would say to me, 'Mick, there's no war goin' on, you're fighting it all by yourself. It's all in your head. You should have been born 200 years ago'.
You should have been a Greek god.
>> (Laughs) I have my nights.
Do you still find anyone is cautious about casting you?
>> Oh absolutely! Abso-f---in'-lutely. I just dealt with this scumbag producer from England on a movie where he wanted to treat me like a f---in' slave. I say, ‘F--- you', you know. I said, ‘What the f--- have you done?' I think he got a little bit of acclaim for something and I said, ‘Well take your arty farty to somebody else, this is the wrong train'.
The director of Immortals, Tarsem Singh, says he didn't direct you.
>> He did in his own way. What can I say, ‘Let him feel that?' No (laughs). He did. He's very smart. I would do something and then he would come over and it would be an adjustment and it would elevate my choice or my performance to another level. I think he brought the best out of me because he knew exactly what he wanted. If I made a choice that might not have been the best choice, he was full of really great ideas.
Some actors who have worked with you say they love the challenge of trying to keep up with the curveballs you're throwing them. Do you realise that is happening?
>> I think some of them talk about it but then when it actually happens they freeze. Or s---. Everybody wants the championship fight but you've gotta do the roadwork otherwise you're gonna get knocked flat on your ***. So if you're in shape, bring it, come on, let's see what you're made out of.
Who's the last actor you got on set with that you had to keep up with in that way?
>> De Niro was very concentrated actor. Eric Roberts, very talented actor. And there was a young kid who was really a very brave actor – he died, he OD'd, I forget his name – he was a bully, he was very good. God bless his soul. Not too many.
Do you feel like you're an easy guy to work with?
>> It depends. It depends how much I believe in the project, the director, the other actors. If I have a director like I had on The Wrestler – like Aronofsky – that pushes you to another level, then I love that. Somebody who's so smart. Tarsem is the same way, but more gentle; he's not a son of a b*tch like Darren is (laughs). But I would work with Darren in two seconds, you know. But it's almost a relief to work with somebody like Tarsem because he is so smart, he is so gentle, he doesn't break you down to where you're just exhausted at the end of the day.
The Darrens and the Tarsems must be harder to find.
>> Yeah, but those are the guys that I wanna work with, that challenge you. Darren elevated me; Tarsem elevated me in a different way. It was two different kinds of movies. Immortals was more just fun, going to work and having a good time, I didn't take it all that serious, it wasn't that kind of movie. Yet at moments you've gotta work just as hard, like, really.
Was Immortals a different style of filming with the 3D and a lot of green screen and so on?
>> Well that doesn't necessarily ... I think it's the subject matter, what's going on in the moment. Immortals is so far out, you can only personalise it so far.
So your character, King Hyperion, was it like playing a cartoon bad guy?
>> Yeah, but I still deliver the line how I would say it, and make it personal, but there wasn't that much, let's say, emotional stuff on the line, when you had to dig really deep. An emotional investment where like – Darren would say ‘Cut' and I'd still be crying, you know.
Did you come off The Wrestler set just exhausted?
>> Yeah, I had to see the doctor for like three days straight after that movie. The head doctor and the physical doctor. But that's why doing a movie like this I enjoy it to a degree because it's not all that, you don't have to flip out.
You seem to be given a more amazing look with each film you do. How did you feel looking in the mirror as this Immortals character?
>> Well I had a little bit to do with that, Tarsem had a little bit to do with that. I like movies where I can almost hide ... especially if I don't like the movie, they don't know it's me then (laughs).But I got a kick out of this one, so it was nice. We had a lot of clever people around, you know the wardrobe lady worked two years on the wardrobe, the sets were beautiful, Tarsem's a very visual shooter. So I did my performance and because they add so much to the movie, it's like taking a sip of water and there's all this s--- going on.
Do you feel like a tiny piece of a giant puzzle on a film like that?
>> Absolutely. Yeah. This kind of movie, I don't know if I would have done the movie – I don't think so – if it wasn't Tarsem. I just don't wanna do some 3D piece of crap, you know. At least if I'm gonna do something like this, let me work with the best guy and smartest group of people that are around.
Henry (Cavill) was very hard working, he was really into it, doing his push ups and flying around. And a very nice kid, gentleman. And I met Freida (Pinto) before and I like her, respect her, she's interesting, good person. So there wasn't any scumbags around, so there was no problems.
news.com.au
When you do have a scumbag on set that is making a film less enjoyable, what's your tactic?
>> Well they're usually dumped by the time I walk out of the trailer. I'm waiting.
Your name is attached to Seven Psychopaths. Is that happening?
>> The producer's a scumbag, he's the one. He wanted to make up his own f---ing rules, and I'd like to see his resume. Pffft. Yeah. Their loss.
So the rugby film will be the next one you make?
>> Um, I'm gonna do a little cameo in something. But I've gotta be careful, ’cos I have to be prepared. I can't say, ‘I wish I had another two months to train' or ‘I wish I had another month to work on the accent', you know what I'm sayin'? So I have to block out this period of time, I have to, it's that important to me. I'm not 25 any more, it's gonna be a grind to get into the shape I've gotta get into to do this movie. It's gonna be a real grind.
The day that film finishes shooting, will you be straight onto the burgers with bread?
>> Straight onto everything (laughs). Everything! I've got hawk-eye over here, he watches me even when I talk on the phone, he thinks I'm gonna eat the phone.
As you said, on a project like this you pour everything into it. What's the reward?
>> Glory.
Plain and simple.
>> Well, it's like Errol Flynn said as he played General Custer – ‘To hell or to glory, it depends on what point of view'. It certainly isn't money. I remember reading Elia Kazan's book – gee, I must have read it 20-something years ago or longer – and he said, ‘An actor will only do, in his whole career, three or four really special movies'. And I thought to myself, ‘Oh that's such bulls---', but there's a lot of truth to that, I think.
You spoke about LA and what a tough town it can be, have you ever thought along the way, ‘Why am I in this business and is it worth it?'
>> Well, I think a lot of it right now is monetary reasons, for me. What the f--- am I gonna do, go punch a clock? There is nothing else I can do. I'm too old to do sports any more, I'm too unqualified to do anything else, really.
Acting was never my first choice as a profession but I came to terms with it when I decided I better buckle down and be the best I can be at it.
Was there a moment you fell in love with it, though?
>> Yeah, it was – I gave myself a limit of five years to start working. I wasn't working, I was just going through the motions and going to class and everything, and I thought, ‘If I don't make it in five years I'm gonna go back home'. I went back home and I realised there's no place for me there, either, back in Miami. Then when I went back to New York I realised I have to turn the jets on and really grind. Then I realised I really enjoyed it, I really studied hard and for three years didn't go out anywhere. I'd go into the Actors Studio late at night and I'd grab whoever I could to go rehearse lines with me – I'd pay a drunk off the street to come in and read.
I'd be there til 2 in the morning, because it's the work you do alone by yourself that's the pay off, not when you're in acting class. My acting teacher one time said to me, ‘Listen, you have to ask yourself every day, how can I be a better actor today than I was yesterday?' That was a goal I had.
I used to see Pacino and Chris Walken and Keitel who went to school there and I thought, ‘God, I wanna be that kind of actor, I wanna be like those guys'. Not like ... that other group. C---s (laughs).
When you're working with young actors such as Henry and Freida, are you the wise one ...?
>> No, not really. Everybody's got their own thing. Everybody reaches a sort of peak with their confidence or their ability – it took me a long time to do it, it seems like the young people these days are already prepared for what's going on. It's also like, hey, there's nothing I can tell ’em. They're gonna have to see the road ahead. I don't know how old Henry is, but 15 years from now, we'll be able to go, `OK, that's Henry's career'. Freida's a young, good-looking girl right now, who even knows in 10 years if she'll even be in the business. It ain't no easy business to be in.
It sounds as though you've still got that same work ethic from Actors Studio days.
>> Well I do, because it's the only way – if I can't be the best at what I do then I'll go get a f---ing job driving a taxi. I enjoy the competition. Even when I go home at night after me and Daniel are training, he'll be holding my arms going down the steps and I'll go ‘I'm sore, I'm aching' and he goes, ‘You're not young any more' and I'll say ‘F--- you!' (laughs). I just need to be young for one more movie.
So after the rugby film, will your next movie challenge have to be about book-smarts, research and so on?
>> Well this'll probably be the last balls-out physical movie I ever do, so it's personal to me and I have to rise to the occasion.
John Hurt is in Immortals. Can you see yourself still acting at his age?
>> Oh John, I love John. I've got a nice role written for John in the rugby movie. Can I see that? No. Yeah, with a gun in one hand and a drink in the other (laughs).
John and I didn't get to work together, we didn't even get to see each other up there, we worked on different days. But he's one of my favourites ever since I was in acting class and saw him in Midnight Express. He's a great actor.
Have you ticked off most of the people you really want to work with?
>> Yes, I've pissed most of them off (laughs). Both. I think a little of both. I'd really like to work with Pacino. And Sean Penn and I haven't worked together. Probably Sean and Pacino.
Surely there's a role for them as wingers or ...
>> I don't think so (laughs). Yeah, at the bar. I've respected both of them for years and we've all been mates. I've always liked working with Walken, Chris ... There's a few others. But right now that's who comes to mind.
Do you just click with some people? He's on my level.
>> Yeah, absolutely. I don't know. It's a funny business, there could be somebody new that comes up where you go well that guy's a good actor, I'd like to work with him. It doesn't have to be a contemporary or an older guy. Who knows. I'm trying not to f---in' get nasty here and bring up terrible actors' names that I hate (laughs). Say, ‘Gee, I can't wait to work with so and so'.
That's not like you to be cynical!
>> No. No ... No. Shut up Mickey.
The glory of being in this business outweigh the scumbags – would that be true to say?
>> It can, but you gotta go through a lot of hell, a lot of crap, to see the daylight. But then again, I'm very fortunate. If I was a professional athlete, which I was at one time, my career would be way over. I had my last professional fight at 40 years old and I was pissed off when they told me I couldn't fight any more. I kept saying, 'I'm three fights away from a title fight, Doc, please'. He said, ‘Mickey, your neurological's terrible, you won't be able to count the money'. I just wanted that one more fight – but I never met another fighter that didn't want one more fight. I never met a rugby player that didn't wanna play in one more game.
That's what it's all about for me. That's why the rugby story is so personal to me – it's the last time I'm gonna feel, like, alive. Cos I've always had more honour and love for sports than I did for the acting. So it's the last time I'm gonna say, ‘Give me the f---ing ball!'
Can you concede nowdays that the doctor was right?
>> No, I know he was right because I was having some equilibrium problems and short term memory problems. I took a hell of a lot of beatings in the gym in order to win my fights, you know. I mean, I got the piss kicked out of me by James Tony and some real good fighters for years, guys that I sparred with. But I'd rather lose in the gym than when it was time to fight. I was fortunate that I ended up with a really great boxing trainer that taught me a lot of lessons and also highlighted my concentration and my focus ’cos hey, when the bell rings you can't go, ‘Oh hold on a second' (laughs). So it's like when the little red light goes on the camera, it's like, it's on, I'm focused, I'm right f---ing there. When I went back for five years to the boxing it really reinvigorated me to take my instrument, if you wanna call it that, to another level. It was very destructive for me to go back, and on the other hand it gave me a purpose. I finished something in my life. I finished something that I quit that was my dream.
I wasn't able to win a title – I was three or four fights away from a title, but it was too late for me, I wasn't gonna be the champion of the world at 40, you know. That wasn't my destiny, this time. I've never come to terms with it, really. You know they're putting my feet in cement at the Hollywood Chinese Theatre which is supposed to be like an honour, but I would rather have won a belt. Unfortunately it means more to other people than it does to me.
Will you have to tell the agent to keep these physical movie scripts away from you in case you're tempted for just one more?
>> You wanna know the truth? I don't think I'll be able to move after I finish this film. No, I'm serious. After The Wrestler, I've never been the same, my body has never been the same. I was doing backflips and crazy **** that I shouldn't have been able to do. And this is gonna be hell. I've already asked the director to please shoot all the rugby stuff first because I'll be coming right out of training, you know what I mean, and we need to get it out of the way. And I've really gotta honours Gareth's name, that means more to me than anything. He's got a lot of concern about somebody playing his story and also the secrets that he had – he calls it ‘My little secret' – so I gotta bring it and kick *** like I never did before.
You know what he's going through, having to quit the sport you'd love to keep playing forever but the body just can't take it.
>> Exactly. That's why I said, the first half is more fun and the second half is less painful.
Thank you for your time, Mickey.
>> Give all the good hard men my regards in your country.
news.com.au
>> Well they're usually dumped by the time I walk out of the trailer. I'm waiting.
Your name is attached to Seven Psychopaths. Is that happening?
>> The producer's a scumbag, he's the one. He wanted to make up his own f---ing rules, and I'd like to see his resume. Pffft. Yeah. Their loss.
So the rugby film will be the next one you make?
>> Um, I'm gonna do a little cameo in something. But I've gotta be careful, ’cos I have to be prepared. I can't say, ‘I wish I had another two months to train' or ‘I wish I had another month to work on the accent', you know what I'm sayin'? So I have to block out this period of time, I have to, it's that important to me. I'm not 25 any more, it's gonna be a grind to get into the shape I've gotta get into to do this movie. It's gonna be a real grind.
The day that film finishes shooting, will you be straight onto the burgers with bread?
>> Straight onto everything (laughs). Everything! I've got hawk-eye over here, he watches me even when I talk on the phone, he thinks I'm gonna eat the phone.
As you said, on a project like this you pour everything into it. What's the reward?
>> Glory.
Plain and simple.
>> Well, it's like Errol Flynn said as he played General Custer – ‘To hell or to glory, it depends on what point of view'. It certainly isn't money. I remember reading Elia Kazan's book – gee, I must have read it 20-something years ago or longer – and he said, ‘An actor will only do, in his whole career, three or four really special movies'. And I thought to myself, ‘Oh that's such bulls---', but there's a lot of truth to that, I think.
You spoke about LA and what a tough town it can be, have you ever thought along the way, ‘Why am I in this business and is it worth it?'
>> Well, I think a lot of it right now is monetary reasons, for me. What the f--- am I gonna do, go punch a clock? There is nothing else I can do. I'm too old to do sports any more, I'm too unqualified to do anything else, really.
Acting was never my first choice as a profession but I came to terms with it when I decided I better buckle down and be the best I can be at it.
Was there a moment you fell in love with it, though?
>> Yeah, it was – I gave myself a limit of five years to start working. I wasn't working, I was just going through the motions and going to class and everything, and I thought, ‘If I don't make it in five years I'm gonna go back home'. I went back home and I realised there's no place for me there, either, back in Miami. Then when I went back to New York I realised I have to turn the jets on and really grind. Then I realised I really enjoyed it, I really studied hard and for three years didn't go out anywhere. I'd go into the Actors Studio late at night and I'd grab whoever I could to go rehearse lines with me – I'd pay a drunk off the street to come in and read.
I'd be there til 2 in the morning, because it's the work you do alone by yourself that's the pay off, not when you're in acting class. My acting teacher one time said to me, ‘Listen, you have to ask yourself every day, how can I be a better actor today than I was yesterday?' That was a goal I had.
I used to see Pacino and Chris Walken and Keitel who went to school there and I thought, ‘God, I wanna be that kind of actor, I wanna be like those guys'. Not like ... that other group. C---s (laughs).
When you're working with young actors such as Henry and Freida, are you the wise one ...?
>> No, not really. Everybody's got their own thing. Everybody reaches a sort of peak with their confidence or their ability – it took me a long time to do it, it seems like the young people these days are already prepared for what's going on. It's also like, hey, there's nothing I can tell ’em. They're gonna have to see the road ahead. I don't know how old Henry is, but 15 years from now, we'll be able to go, `OK, that's Henry's career'. Freida's a young, good-looking girl right now, who even knows in 10 years if she'll even be in the business. It ain't no easy business to be in.
It sounds as though you've still got that same work ethic from Actors Studio days.
>> Well I do, because it's the only way – if I can't be the best at what I do then I'll go get a f---ing job driving a taxi. I enjoy the competition. Even when I go home at night after me and Daniel are training, he'll be holding my arms going down the steps and I'll go ‘I'm sore, I'm aching' and he goes, ‘You're not young any more' and I'll say ‘F--- you!' (laughs). I just need to be young for one more movie.
So after the rugby film, will your next movie challenge have to be about book-smarts, research and so on?
>> Well this'll probably be the last balls-out physical movie I ever do, so it's personal to me and I have to rise to the occasion.
John Hurt is in Immortals. Can you see yourself still acting at his age?
>> Oh John, I love John. I've got a nice role written for John in the rugby movie. Can I see that? No. Yeah, with a gun in one hand and a drink in the other (laughs).
John and I didn't get to work together, we didn't even get to see each other up there, we worked on different days. But he's one of my favourites ever since I was in acting class and saw him in Midnight Express. He's a great actor.
Have you ticked off most of the people you really want to work with?
>> Yes, I've pissed most of them off (laughs). Both. I think a little of both. I'd really like to work with Pacino. And Sean Penn and I haven't worked together. Probably Sean and Pacino.
Surely there's a role for them as wingers or ...
>> I don't think so (laughs). Yeah, at the bar. I've respected both of them for years and we've all been mates. I've always liked working with Walken, Chris ... There's a few others. But right now that's who comes to mind.
Do you just click with some people? He's on my level.
>> Yeah, absolutely. I don't know. It's a funny business, there could be somebody new that comes up where you go well that guy's a good actor, I'd like to work with him. It doesn't have to be a contemporary or an older guy. Who knows. I'm trying not to f---in' get nasty here and bring up terrible actors' names that I hate (laughs). Say, ‘Gee, I can't wait to work with so and so'.
That's not like you to be cynical!
>> No. No ... No. Shut up Mickey.
The glory of being in this business outweigh the scumbags – would that be true to say?
>> It can, but you gotta go through a lot of hell, a lot of crap, to see the daylight. But then again, I'm very fortunate. If I was a professional athlete, which I was at one time, my career would be way over. I had my last professional fight at 40 years old and I was pissed off when they told me I couldn't fight any more. I kept saying, 'I'm three fights away from a title fight, Doc, please'. He said, ‘Mickey, your neurological's terrible, you won't be able to count the money'. I just wanted that one more fight – but I never met another fighter that didn't want one more fight. I never met a rugby player that didn't wanna play in one more game.
That's what it's all about for me. That's why the rugby story is so personal to me – it's the last time I'm gonna feel, like, alive. Cos I've always had more honour and love for sports than I did for the acting. So it's the last time I'm gonna say, ‘Give me the f---ing ball!'
Can you concede nowdays that the doctor was right?
>> No, I know he was right because I was having some equilibrium problems and short term memory problems. I took a hell of a lot of beatings in the gym in order to win my fights, you know. I mean, I got the piss kicked out of me by James Tony and some real good fighters for years, guys that I sparred with. But I'd rather lose in the gym than when it was time to fight. I was fortunate that I ended up with a really great boxing trainer that taught me a lot of lessons and also highlighted my concentration and my focus ’cos hey, when the bell rings you can't go, ‘Oh hold on a second' (laughs). So it's like when the little red light goes on the camera, it's like, it's on, I'm focused, I'm right f---ing there. When I went back for five years to the boxing it really reinvigorated me to take my instrument, if you wanna call it that, to another level. It was very destructive for me to go back, and on the other hand it gave me a purpose. I finished something in my life. I finished something that I quit that was my dream.
I wasn't able to win a title – I was three or four fights away from a title, but it was too late for me, I wasn't gonna be the champion of the world at 40, you know. That wasn't my destiny, this time. I've never come to terms with it, really. You know they're putting my feet in cement at the Hollywood Chinese Theatre which is supposed to be like an honour, but I would rather have won a belt. Unfortunately it means more to other people than it does to me.
Will you have to tell the agent to keep these physical movie scripts away from you in case you're tempted for just one more?
>> You wanna know the truth? I don't think I'll be able to move after I finish this film. No, I'm serious. After The Wrestler, I've never been the same, my body has never been the same. I was doing backflips and crazy **** that I shouldn't have been able to do. And this is gonna be hell. I've already asked the director to please shoot all the rugby stuff first because I'll be coming right out of training, you know what I mean, and we need to get it out of the way. And I've really gotta honours Gareth's name, that means more to me than anything. He's got a lot of concern about somebody playing his story and also the secrets that he had – he calls it ‘My little secret' – so I gotta bring it and kick *** like I never did before.
You know what he's going through, having to quit the sport you'd love to keep playing forever but the body just can't take it.
>> Exactly. That's why I said, the first half is more fun and the second half is less painful.
Thank you for your time, Mickey.
>> Give all the good hard men my regards in your country.
news.com.au
December 3, 2011
Mickey Rourke tries to avoid being photographed by hiding behind his friend as he leaves Cafe Roma in Beverly Hills.
zimbio.com (Photos by PacificCoastNews.com)
December 3rd, 2011
Mickey Rourke was spotted getting a bite.
isopix.be (Photos X17online.com)
Mickey Rourke tries to avoid being photographed by hiding behind his friend as he leaves Cafe Roma in Beverly Hills.
zimbio.com (Photos by PacificCoastNews.com)
December 3rd, 2011
Mickey Rourke was spotted getting a bite.
isopix.be (Photos X17online.com)
January 6th, 2012
Mickey Rourke hits the country mart with his stunning model girlfriend Anastassija Makarenko in Brentwood, CA.
http://imageupper.com/i/?S0300010060011R13264964412475475
http://imageupper.com/i/?S0300010060041R13264964412475475 
zimbio.com
Mickey Rourke hits the country mart with his stunning model girlfriend Anastassija Makarenko in Brentwood, CA.
http://imageupper.com/i/?S0300010060011R13264964412475475
http://imageupper.com/i/?S0300010060041R13264964412475475 zimbio.com
A chat with Mickey Rourke 1
Posted by Bob Westal (11/08/2011)
blog.bullz-eye.com
I spoke to Rourke via phone about 24 hours prior to the press junket for “Immortals,” Relativity Media’s hyper-violent mythological fantasy film directed by visual stylist Tarsem Singh (“The Cell,” “The Fall”). When I cheerfully asked the star how he was, his response was a weary, “Oh, that depends.”
Bullz-Eye: It’s an honor to talk to you.
Mickey Rourke: Thank you.
BE: We’ll start with “Immortals.” I think this might be your first real period film.
MR: Yeah, close.
BE: And also it’s your first 3-D film. A lot of green screen; a lot of effects. How did that affect your approach?
MR: It doesn’t really. I mean, I got used to the green screen two years back when I did “Sin City” with Robert Rodriguez.
BE (embarrassed I forgot about it
Of course.
MR: You know, everybody says, “Oh, it’s a green screen,” but it’s just another aspect of making movies. It doesn’t really get in the way with me.
BE: And the 3-D, you don’t even think about it?
MR: No, you don’t even know. I mean, I don’t deal with that stuff. Shoot it in 6-D, I don’t give a ****.
BE: Okay, now you’ve played a lot of anti-heroes and questionable type people, but you’ve never really played a whole lot of nasty villains like Hyperion in “Immortals.”
MR: Yeah.
BE: And here, you’re not only a bad guy but you’re a king. You’re an authority figure.
MR: Right.
BE: I know you’ve been very frank in interviews that that’s an issue for you. I wonder if you maybe imagined he was your least favorite producer or studio head.
MR: Oh, my least favorite producer was Elliot Kastner. He’s dead.
BE: But I mean, when you were playing him, were you thinking of somebody in particular?
MR: Oh, the king you mean?
BE: Yeah.
MR: Not necessarily. My whole thing all the time is, let’s not make a one-dimensional bad guy. Let’s give him some layers and justify why he is the way he is.
BE: Sure.
MR: There’s always a fight.
BE: So you’re trying to maybe even give him some good qualities.
MR: Absolutely.
BE: You’ve worked with a lot of visionary directors in your day. How about Tarsem Singh? What’s he like compared to people like Coppola, Cimino and Aronofsky?
MR: He’s just very prepared and he knows exactly what he wants to do. Like I said in the last interview, the wardrobe lady, [Eiko] Ishioka, was working on the film for a couple of years before we even made it. [Tarsem] had done a very extensive pre-production and a lot of research, too, on that particular period of mythology or whatever. He just knew what he wanted. That makes it all really easy for me. I just have to put on my tights.
BE: I was watching your 2008 Charlie Rose interview last night, and you mentioned that you liked directors that kind of push you a little bit.
MR: Yeah, well Tarsem doesn’t really push you that way. He’s just intellectually prepared.
BE: Right.
MR: He gives you interesting activities. Or he’ll even say, “Don’t even say all those lines, just do this,” you know? He’s very spontaneous and he’s not so concerned with the dialogue as he is with creating the moment. So he’s very much open to an almost improvisational type delivery, with structure.
BE: He’s flexible.
MR: He’s flexible in a smart way because, like I said, he knows what he wants. When somebody knows what they want, you get a lot more, I think, out of the actor and the message that comes across.
BE: Gotcha. Moving on to “The Wrestler,” and of course I’m sure you’ve heard a few times that you did pretty good in that movie. I’ve noticed that a lot of really good actors, more than I would think, have a pretty serious athletic background, like you certainly do. What do you think the connection is between athletics and acting, if there is one?
MR: Oh, with me it was I just wasn’t good at any one particular sport to continue my career on. I’ve always much more enjoyed athletics than making movies. I think it’s a good nucleus and a good base, because it’s all about dedication and hard work. You just keep on trying to persevere and make yourself better, you know? And when you fall down, you have an instinct and an understanding to get back up. It is all about winning, but it’s also about if you make a gigantic effort and even if you lose, then you can be proud of the effort that you made.
BE: Right.
MR: You know, I can relate really good directing to a really good coach or a trainer.
BE: Now as far as working with actors, do you have a favorite of the directors you’ve worked with?
MR: Probably Cimino, Coppola, Adrian Lyne. Liliana Cavani [Rourke's director in the 1994 drama, "Francesco," in which he played St. Francis of Assisi, which means that "Immortals" is not his first period film]. Aronofsky, of course, even though he’s a hard mother****er. But I would go to work for him again, you know. I would work with Tarsem again because he’s a really smart man. Well, first of all, Aronofsky and Tarsem are really bright guys. They’ve got really large brains and they help make my job easier because if I make a choice, they sometimes give me an adjustment and say something that will be a better choice than I made. That’s what makes the acting interesting. I don’t know if I would have done this particular material if it wasn’t [for] Tarsem.
BE: You wanted to be with somebody kind of on the interesting side of things.
MR: Well, even if [the movie is] seen as mediocre or ordinary, he’s such a visionary and he’s so bright he can transcend the material.
BE: With you, there’s kind of an obsession out there with your very dramatic career. Again, listening to the Rose interview last night, I was thinking that the moment that I started to think that you were eventually going to come back was probably before you think it was, which is “The Rainmaker” (1997).
MR: Well, you know, it’s funny. I think what happened with that was once again Coppola gave me a shot to do that when I couldn’t get any work in Hollywood. And it didn’t really happen after that. My reputation at that time was still so bad that they didn’t care how good I was in that movie. You know what I mean?
BE: It took more than one movie.
MR: They weren’t going to let me back in the door yet. At that period of time there were still too many people around that I had pissed off. I had to wait another several years for them ****ers to die off.
BE: Okay. This is a question that I like to ask people who have done a lot of movies. Of all the movies you have done, which one do you think didn’t get the attention it deserved?
MR: I don’t know. My favorite movie that I ever did up until now is “The Pope of Greenwich Village.”
BE: It’s funny you mention that. Believe it or not, that was maybe the one major film in your filmography that I had not seen and I just caught up with it the other night.
MR: Yeah.
BE: That is the darnedest movie.
MR: The studios had changed studio heads at the time so it was a new regime that came in and nobody really wanted to push the movie. It probably was the most fun I’ve ever had on film. And Eric Roberts is definitely one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with.
BE: You two have a really fascinating dynamic in that movie. The one that I’m a big fan of, and the one where I saw you and went “Oh my God, this guy is a movie star,” was “Rumblefish.”
MR: Well, that was sort of an early introduction to working in a very unconventional way. Once again, you take Rodriguez and Coppola and Tarsem, and they are all sort of the same kind of big brain visionary person that doesn’t work in, let’s say, your A-B-C kind of way.
BE: Right. “Rumblefish” was remarkable at the time. You didn’t know what time period it was set in. It could have been the 50s, it could have been the 80s. You didn’t know.
MR: The studio at the time wasn’t so hot about it. But I know when it went to France, all of the French loved it.
BE: The French, and me and everyone at UCLA where I was. Now you got a lot of attention in the old days for passing movies up. Were there any that you were particularly happy that you passed up?
MR: Sure, I can’t mention them though.
BE: Oh, darn it.
MR: You know, I’ve learned my lesson about pissing those people off so I’m not going to name the names. But yeah, there’s quite a few movies that I regret passing up for stupid reasons back in the day. And sure, there’s a whole bunch that I’m glad that I didn’t do.
BE: Are there any directors right now that you’re really anxious to work with soon?
MR: I’d like to work with Adrian Lyne again and I’m always open to working with Francis.
BE: I know you’ve had close calls with Quentin Tarantino a couple of times.
MR: But he talks a lot.
BE: Yes, he does.
MR: What can I say? You’ve got to be able to decide who you’re going to talk to and how you’re going to say it.
BE: Right… you see in the press how they tend to leak these stories about how so and so is thinking about being in a movie and so and so is circling something.
MR: Well, you know, I don’t know how to say it politely.
BE: Well, what have you got coming? I was looking on IMDb and there are some interesting sounding movies coming up.
MR: I’m mainly going to take some time off now and get ready to do my rugby movie that I wrote. It’s about a rugby player who’s gay. His name is Gareth Thomas and I wrote a script called “The Beautiful Game,” so I’m doing that next.
BE: Cool. And this is not the first script that you’ve written. There was a movie you did with Tupac several years ago called “Bullet.”
MR: Yeah, there are about four that I’ve written.
BE: So now, you’re going to be in it?
MR: Yeah.
BE: I don’t know about the story, Are you playing him or are you playing somebody else?
MR: You can Google him, it’s Gareth Thomas, he plays for Wales.
BE: Okay. And who’s directing?
MR: A South African director named Antony Hoffman.
BE: Sounds really interesting. How do you think you’re acting background works when you’re writing?
MR: It’s more life background. Well, yeah. It’s so important to write the other characters as good as you write your character. So, coming from the acting background, there’s certain actors that I have in my mind that I want to use in certain roles. If I’m writing something and it’s for this particular person, I have the responsibility to write his role as good as I would write my own role.
BE: Sure.
MR: So I have to write all the main roles, or even if it’s a one-line guy, with some layers and with honorable intentions, in a way.
BE: Do you find yourself kind of having fun maybe trying to get into the head of somebody who in a role you would never ever be cast in?
MR: Say that again.
BE: In other words, you’re writing the part of a character that you know you would never be cast in. Just physically, you’re wrong; it’s a woman, say. Do you find as an actor you can get into your head a little bit maybe and get into her head?
MR: Yeah, sort of, you could do that.
BE: So, let me ask you this, when you go to see movies, what do you like to see?
MR: I don’t go to movies.
BE: Really?
MR: Yeah. I mean, I watch on the DVD and Apple TV. I just cruise through independent movies usually, the foreign films.
BE: Right. Well, let me ask you this, as a writer, who would you say your big influences are?
MR: Probably Pinter and Tennessee Williams combined.
BE: I was looking at a quote from when you were doing “Barfly” and you mentioned you were impressed by working with Charles Bukowski a little bit, but it wasn’t like he was Tennessee Williams.
MR: Not that much.
BE: Well, right, that’s what I was saying, it wasn’t as if he was Tennessee Williams to you.
MR: No, his wife was a jerk.
Perhaps not surprisingly, right at that moment the publicist decided to move things along, but that wasn’t quite Bullz-Eye’s last encounter with Mickey Rourke.
blog.bullz-eye.com
Posted by Bob Westal (11/08/2011)
blog.bullz-eye.com
I spoke to Rourke via phone about 24 hours prior to the press junket for “Immortals,” Relativity Media’s hyper-violent mythological fantasy film directed by visual stylist Tarsem Singh (“The Cell,” “The Fall”). When I cheerfully asked the star how he was, his response was a weary, “Oh, that depends.”
Bullz-Eye: It’s an honor to talk to you.
Mickey Rourke: Thank you.
BE: We’ll start with “Immortals.” I think this might be your first real period film.
MR: Yeah, close.
BE: And also it’s your first 3-D film. A lot of green screen; a lot of effects. How did that affect your approach?
MR: It doesn’t really. I mean, I got used to the green screen two years back when I did “Sin City” with Robert Rodriguez.
BE (embarrassed I forgot about it
Of course. MR: You know, everybody says, “Oh, it’s a green screen,” but it’s just another aspect of making movies. It doesn’t really get in the way with me.
BE: And the 3-D, you don’t even think about it?
MR: No, you don’t even know. I mean, I don’t deal with that stuff. Shoot it in 6-D, I don’t give a ****.
BE: Okay, now you’ve played a lot of anti-heroes and questionable type people, but you’ve never really played a whole lot of nasty villains like Hyperion in “Immortals.”
MR: Yeah.
BE: And here, you’re not only a bad guy but you’re a king. You’re an authority figure.
MR: Right.
BE: I know you’ve been very frank in interviews that that’s an issue for you. I wonder if you maybe imagined he was your least favorite producer or studio head.
MR: Oh, my least favorite producer was Elliot Kastner. He’s dead.
BE: But I mean, when you were playing him, were you thinking of somebody in particular?
MR: Oh, the king you mean?
BE: Yeah.
MR: Not necessarily. My whole thing all the time is, let’s not make a one-dimensional bad guy. Let’s give him some layers and justify why he is the way he is.
BE: Sure.
MR: There’s always a fight.
BE: So you’re trying to maybe even give him some good qualities.
MR: Absolutely.
BE: You’ve worked with a lot of visionary directors in your day. How about Tarsem Singh? What’s he like compared to people like Coppola, Cimino and Aronofsky?
MR: He’s just very prepared and he knows exactly what he wants to do. Like I said in the last interview, the wardrobe lady, [Eiko] Ishioka, was working on the film for a couple of years before we even made it. [Tarsem] had done a very extensive pre-production and a lot of research, too, on that particular period of mythology or whatever. He just knew what he wanted. That makes it all really easy for me. I just have to put on my tights.
BE: I was watching your 2008 Charlie Rose interview last night, and you mentioned that you liked directors that kind of push you a little bit.
MR: Yeah, well Tarsem doesn’t really push you that way. He’s just intellectually prepared.
BE: Right.
MR: He gives you interesting activities. Or he’ll even say, “Don’t even say all those lines, just do this,” you know? He’s very spontaneous and he’s not so concerned with the dialogue as he is with creating the moment. So he’s very much open to an almost improvisational type delivery, with structure.
BE: He’s flexible.
MR: He’s flexible in a smart way because, like I said, he knows what he wants. When somebody knows what they want, you get a lot more, I think, out of the actor and the message that comes across.
BE: Gotcha. Moving on to “The Wrestler,” and of course I’m sure you’ve heard a few times that you did pretty good in that movie. I’ve noticed that a lot of really good actors, more than I would think, have a pretty serious athletic background, like you certainly do. What do you think the connection is between athletics and acting, if there is one?
MR: Oh, with me it was I just wasn’t good at any one particular sport to continue my career on. I’ve always much more enjoyed athletics than making movies. I think it’s a good nucleus and a good base, because it’s all about dedication and hard work. You just keep on trying to persevere and make yourself better, you know? And when you fall down, you have an instinct and an understanding to get back up. It is all about winning, but it’s also about if you make a gigantic effort and even if you lose, then you can be proud of the effort that you made.
BE: Right.
MR: You know, I can relate really good directing to a really good coach or a trainer.
BE: Now as far as working with actors, do you have a favorite of the directors you’ve worked with?
MR: Probably Cimino, Coppola, Adrian Lyne. Liliana Cavani [Rourke's director in the 1994 drama, "Francesco," in which he played St. Francis of Assisi, which means that "Immortals" is not his first period film]. Aronofsky, of course, even though he’s a hard mother****er. But I would go to work for him again, you know. I would work with Tarsem again because he’s a really smart man. Well, first of all, Aronofsky and Tarsem are really bright guys. They’ve got really large brains and they help make my job easier because if I make a choice, they sometimes give me an adjustment and say something that will be a better choice than I made. That’s what makes the acting interesting. I don’t know if I would have done this particular material if it wasn’t [for] Tarsem.
BE: You wanted to be with somebody kind of on the interesting side of things.
MR: Well, even if [the movie is] seen as mediocre or ordinary, he’s such a visionary and he’s so bright he can transcend the material.
BE: With you, there’s kind of an obsession out there with your very dramatic career. Again, listening to the Rose interview last night, I was thinking that the moment that I started to think that you were eventually going to come back was probably before you think it was, which is “The Rainmaker” (1997).
MR: Well, you know, it’s funny. I think what happened with that was once again Coppola gave me a shot to do that when I couldn’t get any work in Hollywood. And it didn’t really happen after that. My reputation at that time was still so bad that they didn’t care how good I was in that movie. You know what I mean?
BE: It took more than one movie.
MR: They weren’t going to let me back in the door yet. At that period of time there were still too many people around that I had pissed off. I had to wait another several years for them ****ers to die off.
BE: Okay. This is a question that I like to ask people who have done a lot of movies. Of all the movies you have done, which one do you think didn’t get the attention it deserved?
MR: I don’t know. My favorite movie that I ever did up until now is “The Pope of Greenwich Village.”
BE: It’s funny you mention that. Believe it or not, that was maybe the one major film in your filmography that I had not seen and I just caught up with it the other night.
MR: Yeah.
BE: That is the darnedest movie.
MR: The studios had changed studio heads at the time so it was a new regime that came in and nobody really wanted to push the movie. It probably was the most fun I’ve ever had on film. And Eric Roberts is definitely one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with.
BE: You two have a really fascinating dynamic in that movie. The one that I’m a big fan of, and the one where I saw you and went “Oh my God, this guy is a movie star,” was “Rumblefish.”
MR: Well, that was sort of an early introduction to working in a very unconventional way. Once again, you take Rodriguez and Coppola and Tarsem, and they are all sort of the same kind of big brain visionary person that doesn’t work in, let’s say, your A-B-C kind of way.
BE: Right. “Rumblefish” was remarkable at the time. You didn’t know what time period it was set in. It could have been the 50s, it could have been the 80s. You didn’t know.
MR: The studio at the time wasn’t so hot about it. But I know when it went to France, all of the French loved it.
BE: The French, and me and everyone at UCLA where I was. Now you got a lot of attention in the old days for passing movies up. Were there any that you were particularly happy that you passed up?
MR: Sure, I can’t mention them though.
BE: Oh, darn it.
MR: You know, I’ve learned my lesson about pissing those people off so I’m not going to name the names. But yeah, there’s quite a few movies that I regret passing up for stupid reasons back in the day. And sure, there’s a whole bunch that I’m glad that I didn’t do.
BE: Are there any directors right now that you’re really anxious to work with soon?
MR: I’d like to work with Adrian Lyne again and I’m always open to working with Francis.
BE: I know you’ve had close calls with Quentin Tarantino a couple of times.
MR: But he talks a lot.
BE: Yes, he does.
MR: What can I say? You’ve got to be able to decide who you’re going to talk to and how you’re going to say it.
BE: Right… you see in the press how they tend to leak these stories about how so and so is thinking about being in a movie and so and so is circling something.
MR: Well, you know, I don’t know how to say it politely.
BE: Well, what have you got coming? I was looking on IMDb and there are some interesting sounding movies coming up.
MR: I’m mainly going to take some time off now and get ready to do my rugby movie that I wrote. It’s about a rugby player who’s gay. His name is Gareth Thomas and I wrote a script called “The Beautiful Game,” so I’m doing that next.
BE: Cool. And this is not the first script that you’ve written. There was a movie you did with Tupac several years ago called “Bullet.”
MR: Yeah, there are about four that I’ve written.
BE: So now, you’re going to be in it?
MR: Yeah.
BE: I don’t know about the story, Are you playing him or are you playing somebody else?
MR: You can Google him, it’s Gareth Thomas, he plays for Wales.
BE: Okay. And who’s directing?
MR: A South African director named Antony Hoffman.
BE: Sounds really interesting. How do you think you’re acting background works when you’re writing?
MR: It’s more life background. Well, yeah. It’s so important to write the other characters as good as you write your character. So, coming from the acting background, there’s certain actors that I have in my mind that I want to use in certain roles. If I’m writing something and it’s for this particular person, I have the responsibility to write his role as good as I would write my own role.
BE: Sure.
MR: So I have to write all the main roles, or even if it’s a one-line guy, with some layers and with honorable intentions, in a way.
BE: Do you find yourself kind of having fun maybe trying to get into the head of somebody who in a role you would never ever be cast in?
MR: Say that again.
BE: In other words, you’re writing the part of a character that you know you would never be cast in. Just physically, you’re wrong; it’s a woman, say. Do you find as an actor you can get into your head a little bit maybe and get into her head?
MR: Yeah, sort of, you could do that.
BE: So, let me ask you this, when you go to see movies, what do you like to see?
MR: I don’t go to movies.
BE: Really?
MR: Yeah. I mean, I watch on the DVD and Apple TV. I just cruise through independent movies usually, the foreign films.
BE: Right. Well, let me ask you this, as a writer, who would you say your big influences are?
MR: Probably Pinter and Tennessee Williams combined.
BE: I was looking at a quote from when you were doing “Barfly” and you mentioned you were impressed by working with Charles Bukowski a little bit, but it wasn’t like he was Tennessee Williams.
MR: Not that much.
BE: Well, right, that’s what I was saying, it wasn’t as if he was Tennessee Williams to you.
MR: No, his wife was a jerk.
Perhaps not surprisingly, right at that moment the publicist decided to move things along, but that wasn’t quite Bullz-Eye’s last encounter with Mickey Rourke.
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A chat with Mickey Rourke 2
Posted by Bob Westal (11/08/2011)
blog.bullz-eye.com
I met again with Mr. Rourke not long afterward. This time it was in person but also in the company of a table full of my fellow entertainment journos at the L.A. Four Seasons. Provided with an audience and allowed to have a smoke outside for a moment, Rourke was in a carefree mood, asking inquisitors about where they were from and, at one point, administering playful noogies to a female writer who, fortunately, took it all very much in stride. Below are a few highlights, starting with another question from yours truly.
BE: Now that you’ve done…
MR: Where are you from?
BE: Los Angeles, actually.
MR: Oh, you’re the one.
BE: Yes. Anyhow, now that you’ve done a sort of classical period role, are there any famous classical roles you’d like to do from mythology or Shakespeare, say.
MR: [When I was a kid] I’d have trouble sleeping and my grandma would read me all that stuff. I like that. It’s very soothing and relaxing to hear all about those crazy things that you hope are real. I don’t have any plans though. First of all, directors like Tarsem don’t fall out of trees, so I don’t know what he’s gonna do next. If Tarsem was going to do another piece different than this, I’d work with him again. I know Darren Aronofsky is gonna do Noah’s Ark. If there’s a small part in that to work with Darren, I would gladly work with Darren — if he pays me this time.
Journalist: Do you agree with the assessment [in the "Immortals" press materials] that your character was like a Greek mythology version of Charlie Manson?
MR: No, not at all. I don’t know who came up with that…That’s terrible, that’s them trying to make [Hyperion] a one-dimensional evil bastard. This is what I fight with them pricks about.
Journalist: How would you describe him?
MR: He’s a guy who’s got some territorial issues, you know? It’s his block, okay? He owns everything in the neighborhood. What’s wrong with that? He earned it and this sissy wants to come over and start ****, I gotta cut his head off.
Journalist: You have a great fight scene at the end with Henry Cavill. What’s your view of him? He’s going to be Superman [in Zack Snyder’s upcoming reboot] and he’ll have this Hollywood machine come at him.
MR: I liked him because Henry was so enthusiastic, doing his push-ups and all ready to go to work. It was easy. He was nice. I don’t particularly care for actors myself and he is at a place right now where he is still a good person. Doesn’t behave like an actor, you know what I mean?
Journalist: When you turn on the TV and you see “9 1/2 Weeks,” do you turn it off? Do you like watching yourself?
MR: I never watched that movie until about five years ago…I saw it [again] about a year or so ago, like little pieces of it and I said, “That ****in’ Kim [Basinger] was hot as ****!” I used to go home with a boner every night. Really. That was no fun…
Journalist: When you’re flipping through the channels and see yourself in something from a long time ago, does that take the form of a sort of out-of-body experience.
MR: No, it’s depressing. I’m going, “Oh, I’ve got so ****ing old. I used to be much better looking.” Now it’s terrible. It really sucks, to see yourself deteriorate. I don’t know how [actors] do it.
blog.bullz-eye.com
Posted by Bob Westal (11/08/2011)
blog.bullz-eye.com
I met again with Mr. Rourke not long afterward. This time it was in person but also in the company of a table full of my fellow entertainment journos at the L.A. Four Seasons. Provided with an audience and allowed to have a smoke outside for a moment, Rourke was in a carefree mood, asking inquisitors about where they were from and, at one point, administering playful noogies to a female writer who, fortunately, took it all very much in stride. Below are a few highlights, starting with another question from yours truly.
BE: Now that you’ve done…
MR: Where are you from?
BE: Los Angeles, actually.
MR: Oh, you’re the one.
BE: Yes. Anyhow, now that you’ve done a sort of classical period role, are there any famous classical roles you’d like to do from mythology or Shakespeare, say.
MR: [When I was a kid] I’d have trouble sleeping and my grandma would read me all that stuff. I like that. It’s very soothing and relaxing to hear all about those crazy things that you hope are real. I don’t have any plans though. First of all, directors like Tarsem don’t fall out of trees, so I don’t know what he’s gonna do next. If Tarsem was going to do another piece different than this, I’d work with him again. I know Darren Aronofsky is gonna do Noah’s Ark. If there’s a small part in that to work with Darren, I would gladly work with Darren — if he pays me this time.
Journalist: Do you agree with the assessment [in the "Immortals" press materials] that your character was like a Greek mythology version of Charlie Manson?
MR: No, not at all. I don’t know who came up with that…That’s terrible, that’s them trying to make [Hyperion] a one-dimensional evil bastard. This is what I fight with them pricks about.
Journalist: How would you describe him?
MR: He’s a guy who’s got some territorial issues, you know? It’s his block, okay? He owns everything in the neighborhood. What’s wrong with that? He earned it and this sissy wants to come over and start ****, I gotta cut his head off.
Journalist: You have a great fight scene at the end with Henry Cavill. What’s your view of him? He’s going to be Superman [in Zack Snyder’s upcoming reboot] and he’ll have this Hollywood machine come at him.
MR: I liked him because Henry was so enthusiastic, doing his push-ups and all ready to go to work. It was easy. He was nice. I don’t particularly care for actors myself and he is at a place right now where he is still a good person. Doesn’t behave like an actor, you know what I mean?
Journalist: When you turn on the TV and you see “9 1/2 Weeks,” do you turn it off? Do you like watching yourself?
MR: I never watched that movie until about five years ago…I saw it [again] about a year or so ago, like little pieces of it and I said, “That ****in’ Kim [Basinger] was hot as ****!” I used to go home with a boner every night. Really. That was no fun…
Journalist: When you’re flipping through the channels and see yourself in something from a long time ago, does that take the form of a sort of out-of-body experience.
MR: No, it’s depressing. I’m going, “Oh, I’ve got so ****ing old. I used to be much better looking.” Now it’s terrible. It really sucks, to see yourself deteriorate. I don’t know how [actors] do it.
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