After his official comeback as the king of bad boy actors with The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke has gone from obscurity to reborn media star overnight. Between the reconstructive surgery and his pack of Chihuahuas, he’s the most unpredictable guy working in Hollywood today...and that's just the start of it.
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7. Kim Basinger described Mickey as the “human ashtray.”
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No, Ms. Basinger never really bothered to explain to the world what exactly that meant. She said this around the time she and Rourke were working on 9 ½ Weeks, an extremely sexual movie – something Rourke would wind up doing a lot of.
Perhaps Basinger was referring to the fact that Rourke was fond of smoking. Perhaps she meant that Rourke was the recipient of a lot of other people’s crap. Or perhaps she was implying that he allowed himself to consort with the filthier aspects of life. I guess we’ll never know.
I wonder what household object Alec Baldwin would describe Kim Basinger as?
6. Mickey almost played Stuntman Mike in Quentin Tarantino’s Deathproof.
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Instead the role wound up going to Kurt Russell after Mickey got in an argument with someone on the production and walked off the set. It’s this kind of hot-headedness that has cost Rourke so much for most of his career. Was Russell pretty awesome in Deathproof? Sure, as awesome as anyone could’ve been in that movie. Would Rourke have cranked it up a few notches had he played Stuntman Mike? Once again, we will probably never know – but I’m betting the answer is yes.
One thing we do know is that it’s not uncommon for Mickey to get in fights with people on and off set. His boxing career in the ‘90s cost him several years' worth of roles, as well as his previously handsome face. Let’s hope he’s gotten all that fighting out of his system. But judging from The Wrestler he’s still got some bite left in him.
5. Mickey was good friends with Tupac Shakur.
Can you imagine the musical brilliance the world might have known had Tupac lived to record an album with Rourke? The possibilities are endless, and pretty much all of them boggle our puny human minds. They both could have rapped. Mickey could have provided some substance to Tupac’s frequently substanceless lyrics. Tupac could have gotten Mickey’s first hip hop album off the ground, and Mickey could have had his career hit the rocks for a whole slew of different reasons.
What’s really weird, though, is when you stop and imagine the two men hanging out. What in hell did they do together? Did they plan how to take retribution against Biggie if it ever came to that? Did Mickey have a hand in B.I.G.’s downfall? Was he the second gunman? Just kidding.
In all likelihood Tupac and Mickey sat around and watched Mickey’s old movies, and Tupac most likely fronted Mickey a lot of weed and booze. Tupac was way ahead of his time to be hanging with Rourke when he was on the outs with Hollywood. The fact that Rourke is even alive to this day has to be at least partially attributed to Tupac. And you know there’s a posse of women out there who got gang-banged by the Tupac-Mickey duo, though it’s unlikely we’ll be reading their memoirs anytime soon.
