I guess you either like Mickey Rourke, or you don’t. I am a huge fan of his early work– Diner, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Rumblefish and Barfly. Rourke had an intensity and edge that wasn’t an act or a persona, you felt it was really him. He made people uncomfortable and still does– only in a different way now. But somewhere along the way, we lost Mickey– or he lost us. He got squirrelly, and his face started morphing faster than Jiffy Pop over a campfire– and he started hanging out with the likes of Dennis Rodman and Jean Claude Van Damme– what’s that all about? I hope the old “birds of a feather” saying isn’t always true for your sake, brother.
Christopher Walken interviews Rourke (the crazy leading the crazy) for Interview magazine. Lots of good nuggets to mine–
MR: I was so nervous working with you. I think you had already won your Academy Award forThe Deer Hunter [1978].
CW: Just, like, a month before we started shooting. I was probably really obnoxious at the time.
MR: Well, you were actors’ royalty, brother. I mean, you were someone we all looked up to.
CW: No, I was probably a pain in the ass.
MR: Well, you were always, like, this strange being from another place. Continue reading