Mickey Rourke, The Comeback Kid

After Years Away From The Spotlight, The Actor Returns With a Gut-Wrenching Performance In "The Wrestler"

(CBS)  Mickey Rourke made a name for himself years ago in movies such as "Diner," and then he threw it all away. Now, with a new film he's hoping to become a comeback kid. Serena Altschul has a Sunday Profile:

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"After ten years went by and I wasn't working, I thought I'm never comin' back. The only thing I had going was hope."

Ask Mickey Rourke and he will tell you: His best work is decades behind him. Years before, his bad-boy behavior derailed a promising career.

That is, until this year, and this film "The Wrestler," and what could be a re-defining moment for the 56-year old actor.

"Look, his time has come and gone," Rourke said, describing his character. "He's in his late 40s and it's, like, the party's over. But he still wants that one more shot at the Garden. And it's like, it's a pipe dream."

Rourke portrays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler past his prime, holding on to what remains of a once-famous career.

"Once you've been somebody, really, you have a career and you're a nobody anymore, and you're getting older, you're living what's called a state of shame. I went through that in the movie business, you know? You are alone."

Mickey Rourke was a rebellious kid who grew up in Miami wanting most of all to be a boxer, but a series of concussions in the ring ended those dreams. Instead he found his way to New York … and acting.

His career took off in the 1980s, with a combination of vulnerability and menace that caught Hollywood's attention, such as when he played an arsonist, opposite William Hurt, in the 1981 film noir "Body Heat."

"It was like a legacy of a certain type of acting that excited me, that I wanted to be able to be the best at, or the best I could be."

The roles got bigger: "Diner," "Rumble Fish," "The Pope of Greenwich Village," "9½ Weeks," and the boozing poet in the 1987 movie "Barfly."

To critics, Rourke invited comparisons to James Dean, Brando and DeNiro.

Altschul referred to the critics' reviews at the time: "You had them in the palm of your hand, they loved you."

"Yeah, I wasn't even at the top of the mountain and I jumped off head first."

"At a certain point, acting lost its luster for you."

"It did," Rourke said. "By the time I was doing 'Angel Heart,' just the whole thing with authority figures or what a producer had to say, or what a director or first AD said to me, or the material itself, it was like I was looking for an excuse to get angry and to blow up."

He ran with a rough crowd, brawled, partied and began a volatile headline-grabbing courtship with model Carrie Otis. They married in 1992. Later came his arrest for spousal assault.

While the charges were eventually dropped, the marriage ended soon after. Rourke was all but washed up.

"It took me to lose my wife, my house, my career, my respectability," Rourke said. "I had to fall all the way down."

"How out-of-control did it get in those days?" Altschul asked.

"It's cliché," he said. "People go, 'Oh, he has a drug problem, a drinking problem.' It was never my issue."

Rourke blames himself for his freefall, and says it's taken years of therapy to control his anger … an anger he attributes to an abusive and turbulent childhood.

"Smack in the head and all that," he said. "It's like if it happened once or twice that would be okay, but when it goes on for a decade it does something to you. I didn't realize that I had to fix those problems. You could only do it with professional help."

In 1991 Rourke made the decision to put his acting on hold and return to boxing, this time as a professional, at an age when most boxers retire.

We talked with Rourke at the Los Angeles gym owned by his former trainer Freddy Roach.

"I came back at 33 and I was only gonna have one fight," he said. "It turned into five years. I fell back in love with it, you know?"

And while boxing gave Rourke the focus and discipline he says he needed, it took its toll on his matinee looks. He not only had his wrist broken …

"My nose was broken about four times," he said. "I had actually five nose operations. It was shattered when I had head gear on."

When Rourke decided to return to acting in the mid-nineties, Hollywood had moved on. It would take years for him to re-emerge on-screen.

"It didn't happen overnight," he said. "I thought when I went to seek help I could change in a year, or two, or three, or four. And then five and six and seven and eight and nine and ten years went by."

"Because you were volatile?"

"I was, yeah, volatile, unpredictable, un-responsible , unaccountable, irrational, you know, unforgiving."

"There's no one like Mickey Rourke on the planet," said "Wrestler" director Darren Aronofsky. "He's an original. He's his own creature. That's what's exciting about him, and I think that's why people want to watch him."

Rourke describes their first meeting

"He introduces himself, sits down, we don't even know each other five minutes and he goes into, like, 'Well, you've ruined your career for 15 to 20 years. And why did you do it? What happened? Why did you short-circuit?'"

"Did he really say that to you?" Altschul asked.

"Yeah! I said, 'Yeah, I know.' And I thought, 'Oh, God, I've heard this before.'

"Then he says, 'Listen to me,' and he puts his little finger in my face, he goes 'If I can get this movie made with you, you're gonna listen to everything I say. You're gonna do everything I tell you. You're not gonna be out running around all night long. And I can't pay you.'

"He's smart. I went, 'This is my kind of guy!'"

Rourke pushed himself for the role. He gained 35 pounds of muscle for the role, trained for three months, and performed almost all his own stunts.

His work has paid off … Rourke is a Golden Globe Best Actor nominee.

And he's back in the place he once abandoned, a mistake he says he won't make again.

Would he do anything different?

"Man, I'd do it all different. I have many regrets. If I knew it was going to take me 15 years to get back in the saddle, I would have changed and done everything differently.

"Now I'm not going to take another back step. I'm not going to trip over the same rock twice, you know? I don't wanna go back to that dark space for a decade and not know how to get out."

[mydiatribe]

I''ve loved Mickey Rourke''s acting.
He''s my idea of a consumate tough guy.
His botched plastic surgery so grossly altered his looks I never thought he would ever work again.
He looks so completely different.
His anger is obviously an asset when he''s acting.
He gets into those roles of tormented tough guys like no actor since Rod Steiger. I ''ll go see ''The Wrestler'' although the topic doesn''t particularly interest me.

[tullybaby]

Darren Aronofsky deserves an award for casting Rourke as the lead in a movie that no one in the world wanted to finance. Everyone said no at least once.
*
Mickey has already won some Best Actor awards for his role in The Wrestler and he''s been nominated for a few more. It''s great to see him get the recognition he deserves. I give him my vote for an Oscar.

[rirapp-2009]

I remember being so moved by his performance in "Johnny Handsome", a still memorable film to me. His character there is akin to what happened in his real life only instead of Lance Henrickson bashing in his face like in the movie Mickey did it to himself.

Stories like his are encouraging to all of us. We''ve all had regrets and most of ours don''t match up in scale to his. So there''s always another day until you die.

[walt1944-2009]

I remember seeing Micky Rourke in a film he had a starring role in "The Year of the Dragon".

In the movie, he played a very dedicated Polish American detective in New York who was obssessed with destroying the Chinese gangs in Chinatown. His obssession ultimately ruined his personal life . I could see that Rourke put a lot into the role he played and you began to think he really was thisd detective.

It was the last movie I saw him in and I wonder what happened to him. Now, I get the feeling thsat he has become another Dennis Hooper, and I wonder if he will make as succesful a comeback as Hooper did.

[ingram102]

Well this "nobody" is fed up with the way stars think and are perceived by the media that they are Gods gift to the world.We "nobodys" need to find some other form of entertainment so that they will come down to our level,see what its like to work for a living,after all its us "nobodys" hardearned money that pay their HUGE salarys while some of us scrape by and whats with all the awards shows they have? There are millions of people that work and we don''t get awards for our blood,sweat and tears!!!

Well a perfect role for a steroid user. Call it a come back if you wish, but it''s about all he could get.

[shanev137]

He was great in Sin City and Domino.

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

I commend Mr. Rourke for finally realizing that he had some issues needing help, and seeking and getting the help he needed.

There, but for the grace of God, are many of us; and, many of us are afraid or unwilling to admit there are issues needing help.

Mr. Rourke is a role model for positive change; and, for that, I thank him.

[arabianway]

I see in Mr. Rourke talent, humanity, and humility. He hasn''t lost the boyish charm either. An American original who came through the school of hard knocks to show us what he is really made of.

[navyjimfl]

I always liked Mickey Rourke and cheer his return to the big screen.......a Tom Cruise he ain''t

[mwillard7971]

Welcome Back Mr. Rourke, Welcome Back!

[honestabe8]

Mickey Rourke was born the same day and year as old Honest Abe (me, that is). Him and David Copperfield. I like Rourke, Copperfield not so much. He is intense, as is Hopper. My fave, though, is Gary Oldman. The guy knows accents and can play all manner of people (albeit mostly villians). I was also knocked out by performances of Edward Norton (American History X) and Brad Dourif (Mississippi Burning). As far as actresses go, Cathy Bates was great in Misery.

[bucknekkid]

Mickey Rourke is pure talent! Anyone can see that!

Just because he likes to beat up women, his former wife included, we should still accept him, because, he's an actor! He likes drugs, steroids, sloppy living? Man, don't pull THAT on me. I mean, we ALL make mistakes. He's REAL talent!

This is his chance now to shine! And we should all applaud him, and everything about him! And, and, his DOG died! The poor guy! He needs our love and support now!

To show support, see "mickeyrourkefreakface" on WordPress blog. Mickey's the Man!