By Ben Arnold
I’m sitting opposite Mickey Rourke and his frail looking 11 year old Chihuahua Loki, his constant companion for the past six years and the favorite of his little dogs- five Chihuahuas and one mini-eskimo. We are in the most expensive suite in a five star luxury hotel. He is staying in a more modest suite downstairs, while he looks for a permanent home here. Hampstead, he thinks. But this one costs a stupefying 15,000 pounds per day and is usually reserved for visiting Middle-Eastern dignitaries. It’s the first time it has ever been used for a photoshoot. So even the hotel’s PR people, who are hovering around for the entire afternoon, must see some cachet in having this actor-turned-boxer-turned-actor again connected with their establishment. Which is probably why they don’t say a word when Loki pisses on the carpet.
The dog jumps up onto Rourke’s knee and sneezes.
Many directors quickly forget that following memorable performances in films like Angel Heart and Barfly, it was widely acknowledged that Rourke could have stepped up as the next Dean or Brando. He certainly had the talent and the looks, while the hell-raising antics all helped add to the fabulous myth. They just didn’t help when it came to getting work in Hollywood, which can dry you up in a n instant once you get a name for being difficult. And it did.
"There’s more to being professional than just the acting. There's the politics, the behavior on and off the set. That’s something I’ve worked very hard on, to realize the responsibilities, to honor them. I can’t afford to get lazy about that because that’s where everything went wrong before." Rourke's decline was fueled by brawling, booze, and running with a crowd of high-rolling villains. Yep, nothing will spend your money quite like an entourage. Of course buying a gold-plaated Bently didn’t help either. And a short fuse isn’t an attribute Hollywood tolerates too long.
"If I have any blame to put on anybody, I‘ve realized as the years have gone by that all the blame has to go on the guy looking in the mirror."
Rourke was born Phillip Andre Rourke Jr. in Schenectady, NY, but grew up in Miami’s tough Liberty City neighbourhood with a brother Joe, sister Patty and five other stepbrothers he is no longer in contact with. As a young amateur fighter, he trained in the same gym as Muhammad Ali and notched up an astonishing string of 12 knockouts straight among 139 wins and just 3 losses. He turned to acting in the late 70’s when he was accepted at the Lee Strasburg Actors Studio in New York, perhaps the most revered school in the world and home to ‘The Method’. The Strasburg alumnus includes Harvey Kietel, Robert Deniro, Al Pacino and Christopher Walken, and with only a handful of new students invited to enroll each year Rourke grabbed the opportunity with both hands, immersing himself in his craft.
"It was like the first time I accomplished something in sorts. I felt like I was worth something. I felt like I was moving somewhere," he says now animated. He would wash dishes and work the doors at strip clubs and massage parlors to pay for his studies. "I didn't go on dates with girls for several years. I just lived like a monk and learned my craft. I’m a firm believer that if you roll up your sleeves and push that fucking wagon up the hill, it’s going to give you character whether you like it or not."
Rourke gave himself five years to succeed at acting.
This was where he met model turned-actress Carre Otis, who would become his second wife. The relationship was predictably volatile and Rourke was very publicly arrested charged with spousal abuse in July 1994 in Miami. You can still see his mug shot online. The charges were soon dropped when Otis refused to testify against her husband, but the damage was irreparable. They divorced in 1996 and she was quoted at the time as saying “I wish he would stay away. “ It was a massive body blow, ad he has since been quoted saying he considered suicide, but was swayed by his priest.
"Even though he’s Hollywood, he's not pretentious, he’s just a tough Irish kid," says Sonny Barger, head of the Hell's Angel and friend to Rourke for more than 25 years. "He's a real person, not a Hollywood fake."
Rourke often claims that half his problems stemmed from surrounding himself with the wrong people. "I think I was probably one of those people," Sonny says. "We're Hells Angels. We’re not viewed by most as the type of people that those with notoriety should be running around with." But it’s perhaps more likely that Rourke was referring to the thugs from the old days back in Miami and maybe even mob boss John Gotti. He showed up at his ,murder trial in '92. Rourke says he is to play Barger in his forthcoming biopic, to be directed by Tony Scott, but so far Sonny’s lawyer maintains that n on has been approached and that it’s likely they will be seeking a younger actor for the role, (though Barger says that he would be honored to have Mickey play him).
Rourke's career trajectory remains fascinating, both for the highs , the lows and the foolish missed opportunities. It’s said that he missed out on Rain Man when he failed to return Dustin Hoffman’s phone call. Then there's Platoon, 48 Hours, The Untouchables, Highlander; each one a blockbuster capable of securing himself a place in the A-list for the rest of his career.
Tarantino wanted him for the part of Butch in Pulp Fiction, a role that did no end of good for Bruce Willis and a film that single-handedly resurrected John Travolta's terminal career/ He bats this off.
A few weeks later and Rourke is back in LA, a city he has grown to detest over the years.
He talks as he drives a pretty Ukranian girl called Sascha to Saks Fifth Avenue on Wilshire Boulevard to buy her a new purse.
London will become his new home sooner rather than later, he says. He has friends here. He met with Guy Ritchie and Madonna while he was filming Stormbreaker in London, an adaptation of one of Anthony Horowitz’s occult children’s books alongside Ewan McGregor and Alicia Sylverstone. He defends Ritchie’s latest directorial disaster Revolver to the hilt, though it was mercilessly and justifiably mauled by the critics.
We talk about his writing. He penned and starred in Bullet in 1996, The Last Ride in 1994 and Homeboy back in 1998, writing under the name Sir Eddie Cook, the name of a petty thief from his childhood. He revealed that he has finally completed a screenplay called Wild Horses, a project that he has been working on for almost 18 years. It’s loosely based on the relationship between him and his brother Joe, who finally succumbed to lung cancer in 2004 after battling the disease in various forms since he was 17.
"When he died I almost threw [the script] in the fire and said "I'm never gonna make this fucking thing,’ but I think Joe would have wanted me to do it and I want to make him proud. I miss him. He’s with me everyday."
With Rourke’s rediscovered status, producing his script – a road movie about a pro rider and his mechanic – shouldn’t prove too difficult. He’s already talking about pre-production in 2006. But he won’t rush into anything.
It was Joe that first introduced Mickey to motorcycles. Another passion he feels he has to keep a lid on now. He can’t afford to have an accident. Bikes are something of a constant symbol of his bad years, too.
Before things went wrong ( and the bank took it away from him) he moved into a sprawling Spanish villa in Beverly Hills previously owned by a legendary hell raiser Richard Harris, who became a firm friend.
People say Rourke is back, and at a pivotal point, where he’s now being offered arguably some of the best roles of his career. He signed up for the Sin City Sequels with Robert Rodriguez, reprising his show stealing role as the disfigured thug Marv (a character he has described as being like “the old Mickey”). His appearances in Rodriguez’s Once Upon A Time in Mexico and as transvestite prisoner Jan the Actress in Animal Factory were also noteworthy, the latter in particular. Killshot, with Shakespeare In Love director John Madden is next, a Weinstein and Tarantino – produced project penned by Elmore Leonard, filming in Toronto.
The person Rourke believes is responsible for all this is his agent David Unger, who other clients include Christian Slater and Dennis Hopper. Unger called Rourke in 2001 after becoming aware that a new generation of directors like Spun’s Jonas Akerlund revered his early work. He signed him to the giant agency ICM and set about resurrecting his career. “Hollywood loves a comeback.” Says Unger. “Mickey represents all the good and all the bad about the industry. When I met him, he was down and out. He’s keenly aware that he can’t make the same mistakes again. He has a lot more to achieve. We’re just at the beginning.”
Rourke, however, doesn’t think he’s back yet. Click on Images to View:
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Photos by: Bryan Adams
Article Originally found in the 2006 Issue of Zoo Magazine.
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