The movie Mickey Rourke hated every second of: “It was like pulling fucking teeth”
If Mickey Rourke doesn’t like a person or a project, then he’s got no issues saying it out loud, an approach that’s made him just as many friends as it has enemies during a long and complicated career.
Initially heralded as the second coming of Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, Rourke’s effortlessly naturalistic acting style and rugged good looks made him both a heartthrob and a star marked out for greatness from a very early stage, something he always struggled with.
He grew so disenchanted with the business in the early 1990s – with the dismal Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man one of several straws that broke the camel’s back – that he decided getting punched in the face for a living would be a lot more relaxing than showing up on set and reciting his lines.
When he returned from his detour into boxing, he was unrecognisable in more ways than one. Rourke had to start from the bottom and work his way back up again, and while there was a brief resurgence following his Academy Award-nominated turn in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler – he eventually slipped back into the direct-to-video doldrums.
Being so outspoken hasn’t done him any favours, either, with Rourke favouring the scorched earth approach more often than not. Whether it’s aimed at peers, filmmakers, or his own back catalogue, the actor has a habit of tearing down anything that irritates him, whether he’s involved or not.
Steve Buscemi’s Animal Factory and Sean Penn’s The Pledge were his first notable theatrically-released credits in years when they arrived in 2000, but his next big screen effort after that was a disaster when Rourke played a character known only as ‘The Cook’ in Jonas Åkerlund’s black comedy crime drama Spun.
“I couldn’t stand making that movie,” he admitted to Total Film. “I hated every second of it.” The drug-addled tale of debauchery featured a decent enough cast that included Jason Schwartzman, John Leguizamo, Brittany Murphy, and Debbie Harry, but Rourke didn’t even want to be there in the first place.
“My agent represents the director, and he forced me to do the movie,” he confessed. “He said it would be good for my career. He goes purple when I talk about Spun that way, but it was like pulling fucking teeth every day just to go to work.”
Rourke’s agent must have been operating under the assumption an underground ensemble piece was the perfect way for his client to begin the road to career rehabilitation, which didn’t go according to plan. It’s hardly the first movie he’s made that he’s dragged over hot coals in the aftermath, but not many have been described as equal to causing Rourke genuine physical discomfort.
