I have been a huge Mickey Rourke fan going WAY back. My absolute favorite of his film is The Pope Of Greenwich Village. In fact, The Pope… is way up there on my all time favorite movie list.  Rourke and Eric Roberts tore up the screen up with that movie. Who can forget Roberts as Paulie screaming “Charlie they took my thumb!”? If you have never seen this movie, you are really missing out on a classic.  I watched this movie more times than I can count, and after writing this story, I now have to watch it again.

Couple movie facts you may not know about the Pope: Michael Cimino was uncredited for co-directing this movie and it was originally titled Village Dreams.

The only downfall to this movie for me, was Daryl Hannah, who played Mickey’s girlfriend. (blech! never liked the gal, sorry)

I swooned over Mickey Rourke in the Pope. Damn he was handsome. It takes a lot for me to swoon, and a lot for me to use the word swoon. Rourke was also great in Diner and Barfly too, even though I was shocked at his appearance in Barfly as curmudgeonly writer, Charles Bukowski, himself not a “handsome” man.  But in comparison to Mickey’s face today, and I don’t mean that in a mean way, I look back and realize he didn’t really look half bad in Barfly.

I bet few people remember  Rourke did a cameo as an arsonist in Body Heat.  Now again, if you haven’t seen this twisty mystery, please do, you will NOT be disappointed I promise.

OH! And let’s not ever forget the two highly erotic and very steamy flicks (and perhaps what he’s best known for) Wild Orchid and 9 1/2 weeks. Zowie!

Mickey eventually dropped out of the movie scene, due to him being “castigated” from Hollywood, spurred by his erratic behavior and super crazy indulgent life-style, as well as abuse allegations against his Wild Orchid co-star turned wife, model Carrie Otis.

At the Golden Globes, his reply to Barbara Walters, when she asked him about his past and did he ever considered committing suicide:

“I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about fourteen years ago or so … the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce. The dogs were there when no one else was there.

Yeah, I didn’t want to be here, but I didn’t want to kill myself. I just wanted to push a button and disappear…I think I hadn’t left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, ‘Oh, man, if I do this,’ [and] then I looked at my dog, Lowjack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don’t have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, ‘Who’s going to take care of me?’

 
So what did Mickey do when he was not popular in the movie scene any more?

He went full tilt into professional boxing back in 1991, a sport that he has loved since he was in his teens. But after years of jumping in the ring and getting knocked around, Mickey received Docs orders to stop. There are many consequences of getting your noggin knocked around for that many years.  You may just forget what you did the night before (I have been there), or suffer irreversible brain damage. Not to mention what it can do to your face.

After years of bodily abuse, Mickey put down his boxing gloves and traded them in for a movie script, to play Randy the Ram in The Wrestler along with Marisa Tomei. Mickey had to put on twenty pounds, forget his boxing days and train in wrestling.
Director for The Wrestler, Darren Aronofksy, who took a chance on casting Mickey, really laid down the law before casting him. Darren wanted to be sure that Mickey was aware of the chance he was taking on him and wanted a total understanding between the two of them, and that he may not be able to pay Mickey at all.

Darren told Mickey:

“I can’t raise any money with you, you have ruined your career by misbehaving, but if we can get the money, you are going to listen to everything I say, and your going to do everything I tell you to do, you can never disrespect me in front of the crew, and I can not pay you.”

Mickey goes on to say, “Well, I thought…I heard he was smart and I know he has the balls too, so I thought this is my kind of guy” 

Well old fans and new fans were truly glad things worked out for Mickey and director Darren. In a very BIG way. The movie was a SMASH and Mickey ended up taking home the Independent Spirit Award and a Bafta (The British Academy Of Film and Television Arts)  for Best Actor.  Not to mention the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards where Mickey was presented with ”Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture,” AND he was nominated by the Academy Awards for Best Actor. Many people will argue that he deserved the Oscar for his genius performance.  Don’t worry, you’ll get em’ next time Mickey!
Actually this movie has a very long list of awards, that I didn’t even mention. 

So after years of being out of the movie game completely, Mickey came back with vengeance and kicked some serious ass! 

Now back to that pretty face…..

Mickey’s once gorgeous face really has suffered due to his lust for boxing. It didn’t help matters, when Mickey found himself on the bitter end of what Mickey called picking the “wrong guy” to do his plastic surgeries.

More from BANG Showbiz:

 The 56-year old star of ‘The Wrestler’ said that he has had five operations to fix the damage done to his face during his career as a boxer, and he thinks he may have gone to the “wrong guy”.

He said: “Most of it was to mend the mess of my face because of the boxing, but I went to the wrong guy to put my face back together.”

Suffered a catalogue of injuries while in the ring, but admits the cuts and bruises were nothing compared to one little-known side effect of the sport. He said: “I had my nose broken twice. I had five operations on my nose and one on a smashed cheekbone.

“I had to have cartilage taken from my ear to rebuild my nose and a couple of operations to scrape out the cartilage because the scar tissue wasn’t healing properly. That was one of the most painful operations, but the worst was hemorrhoids.”

Mickey admitted to Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “I was out of control and did not think the party was going to end. I could stay in any hotel, buy anything I wanted – I once bought six Cadillacs for cash and then gave them all away – and take out all my entourage to dinner. “My mansion in Beverly Hills was like something from ‘Halloween III’ – Elvis on acid. The neighbours were moving in and out almost monthly.”

Mickey was married twice and is now single. Even after multiple surgeries and his wacky ways, the chicks swarm around “The Pope.” 
He was taking a break from filming his role as assassin Whiplash in the Iron Man sequel and was spotted at the Bijoux Lounge nightclub in the Big Apple’s Meatpacking district yucking it up and tossing back a few with club owner KyKy and some gals. VERY YOUNG GALS.  He was seen mugging it up (my parents term for kissing, which I always hated, and now I am using it… go figure) with a Victoria Secrets, Russian model, 24 year old, Eugenie Volodina. Yup! She’s TWENTY FOUR!

Usually I would tend to say eeeewwwww over such a huge age difference, Mickey is 32 years older to be exact – but I just can’t do it when it comes to Mickey Rourke.  I am thinking more on the lines of ”Yeah that’s right…  Mickey is 56 years old and he is out smooching with a 24 year old freakin’ model…so You go Pope!” 

Despite my life-long appreciation for “The Pope”, there is one thing that really bugged me the most about the new Mickey: his hair. Ok, that sounds a bit shallow, but come on, his hair looks horrendous. When I think back to his lovely locks, that I SO wanted to run my fingers through years ago, it makes me sad.

Mickey, for all the time and effort spent on stylish clothes and plastic surgery, has a dirty hot mess featuring The Bride of Frankenstein extensions. I’m sorry Mick!

And while I feel kind of bad for posting these pics, it’s my job, and besides…it’s clearly not keeping you from making time with the ladies, so just keep on being you.

But Mickey, if you are reading this, please before you step out clubbin’, put a comb through your hair.  Ok? 

A little bit more on this age thing. I guess the cliches, “your only as old as you feel”, “you only go around once”, and “life is too short to drink cheap wine”, can all apply to this situation.

Everyone has their own ways of handling aging. I know some people act and look way older than they should. So am I acting immature? Or am I just young at heart? Hmm.

During an interview after winning the BAFTA award for The Wrestler, Mickey reflected on what his boxing trainer Bill once told him, and also threw in his own views on aging:

“Every fighter in one night, gets old, and they’re the last to know, cause’ they always want one more”

Age according to the Pope:

“As age goes by, time can be a cruel thing, and especially in the way society is, which puts emphasis on ”how old is this person?”.

So there you have it, Mickey is not one to bullshit anyone either and he has always lived his life with great gusto, in the past perhaps a little too much vigor and vim. But now, he is taking it down a few notches and attributes his comeback after fourteen years to his psychiatrist, who he sees a few times a week named, “Steve,” and a Catholic priest ”Father Pete.”

Rourke is a Roman Catholic and quite the spiritual guy. But you can never really tame the Pope completely. He will never be brought down to the state of mellow.

Mickey once said: “I’ll never be mellow, OK? I’d rather be dead than mellow. You might as well take me out the back and shoot me in the back of the head before I’m going to be mellow.”

So even though Mickey will never be mellowed, has boxed for years, and played the roles of sexy tough guys, he has a huge soft side to him. The man is quite the animal lover. Especially dogs. He is also a big advocate for spaying and neutering. Right on Mick! Most of his dogs have been chihuahuas. He recently lost his beloved dog “Loki”.  She was a chihuahua-terrier mix. Mickey was so devastated over Loki’s death, he wore a necklace to the Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards which bared Loki’s picture, and even choked up during his acceptance speech when he mentioned her. It nearly broke my heart, to see the Pope cry.

Mickey said:

 ”Loki is deeply missed but with me in spirit. I feel very blessed that she fell asleep peacefully in my arms.

I just think  that was beyond sweet and touching.

Mickey loved his dogs so dearly,… that during his Golden Globes acceptance speech he thanked his beloved pups:

“Id like to thank all my dogs. The ones that are here, the ones that aren’t here anymore because sometimes when a man’s alone, that’s all you got is your dog. And they’ve meant the world to me.”

Mickey delivered quite the saucy acceptance speech at the Independent Spirit Awards, and he had the whole audience roaring. It’s definitely worth the watch, if you haven’t seen it.  The first thing he did surprisingly, was praise his co-star from the Pope Of Greenwich Village, Eric Roberts, who happen to be present that night .

Rourke said:

“Eric Roberts is probably the best actor I ever worked with, and I don’t know why, in the last 15 years ain’t nobody give him a chance to show his shit again.” and “Eric Roberts is the fucking man!”

They both have TONS of fans, and people would flock to go see them reunite. Mickey’s fans even have a blog website called Uniquely Rourke actually there are MANY Rourke fan websites. And of course Mickeyalso has his own website. There is also a petition to get Mickey a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The goal is to reach 5,00 signatures and they are currently close to 4,000. So if you want to see the Pope get the star he so rightly deserves, go sign the petition.

So in my eyes, Mickey is 56 years YOUNG, and I am looking forward to many more wonderful movies. Even with his past years of wacky behavior, drug abuse, surgeries gone bad, and his hot mess hair aside…you gotta love him.

After all, he’s still the Pope of Greenwich Village.

Source: Queen

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