Mickey Rourke is a brilliant actor, but he didn’t make it easy for himself or others. He first appeared in the early 1980s as arsonist Teddy Lewis in Lawrence Kasdan’s neo-noir “Body Heat” and as Hellraiser Boogie Sheftell in Barry Levinson’s masterful “Diner.” After standout performances in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish” and Stuart Rosenberg’s “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” he seemed to be one role away from his first Oscar nomination.
Although Rourke continued to produce superb work for top directors, word spread in Hollywood that his behavior on set was becoming incredibly erratic. After directing him in 1987’s “Angel Heart,” Alan Parker said, “Working with Mickey is a nightmare. He’s dangerous on set because you never know what he’s going to do.” Then, in the early 1990s, he disappeared from the industry’s A-list by giving poor performances in atrocious films like “Wild Orchid” and “Harley Davidson and Marlboro Man.” He seemed exhausted until 1997, when he had a fun role in Tsui Hark’s zany “Double Team” and reunited with Coppola for a supporting role in “The Rainmaker.” Tony Scott also started casting him with some frequency, and while he wasn’t in the groove of a character actor, the work was at least interesting again, if not downright great.
If you think Rourke is the kind of underrated veteran actor who would have been a prime candidate for a role in a Quentin Tarantino film, well, he was. Twice. Once for the role of the fighter Butch in “Pulp Fiction” (which went to Bruce Willis), and again for the killer Stuntman Mike in “Death Proof” (ultimately played by Kurt Russell). How did he miss something?
Rourke’s out-of-control ego kept him from getting in the ring in Pulp Fiction
In a 2009 interview with the Daily Mail, Rourke revealed that he was Tarantino’s first choice for Butch. He blew it, however, by letting his ego get the better of him. As he told the Mail: “I didn’t even read the script. I allowed myself to be proud and angry because I could act. I thought I’d have to be dead to not give a damn about work.'” Willis ended up earning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance.
This was the Rourke of 1993, making all kinds of bad decisions (including going into professional boxing). 13 years later, he had been humbled enough to understand the value of the work, while also knowing that many great directors revered him as an actor. So when Tarantino came calling with the role of stuntman Mike in “Death Proof,” you’d think Rourke would have jumped at the chance. This time, it was the actor’s agents who kept him away.
In an interview with Joe Rogan in 2021, Tarantino explained: “My first choice was Mickey Rourke. It would be Mickey, and Mickey wanted to do it, but then his agents started…well, his agents said, ‘Well, they need Mickey.’ And so the agents started screwing us over. »
Quentin Tarantino didn’t want to mess with Rourke’s agent
By playing hardball, the agent cost Rourke the role. By Tarantino:
“It was one of those things where Robert [Rodriguez] he first made his film “Planet Terror” [for ‘Grindhouse’]so I’m waiting to make mine when he’s finished. And the agent was messing around with us, and I was literally like, “Here’s one of the offers,” you have until nine o’clock Friday night to accept or reject, and they just let that deadline pass, and so, that was it. »
If there’s any upside here, it’s that “Grindhouse” was a huge failure and, two years later, Rourke would finally land his first Best Actor Oscar nomination as a struggling professional wrestler in “The Wrestler.” (He was considered the favorite, but many people think his bad boy past cost him the trophy.) Still, Tarantino and Rourke feel really good together. Now that Tarantino has promised that his next film will be his last, they only have one more chance to meet.
