The Guardian has a pretty interesting interview with Mickey Rourke who’s promoting “The Wrestler” in the U.K. (yeah, it just came out on DVD over there a tooth-fangled Brit told us).
First up, the actor says sure, he’s in “Iron Man 2,” but don’t expect him to stay long in the blockbuster comic book world, he’s not really with it. “I’m not gonna rush out and see the next ‘Batman,’ I’m not big on formula movies. I don’t like all that Spider-Man shit,” he says.
Taking a nice pay check to fuel more interesting work like perhaps Larry Clark‘s remake of Neil Jordan’s 1980 British gangster picture “Mona Lisa“? Hey, we’re down with that. And let’s face it, Mickey Rourke is made from that guttersnipe drama milieu and better off in that world than the action-fantasy one of comic films.
Clark and Rourke sound like they’ve mellowed out, but imagine that bad twosome together in their heyday at a strip club? God, that could be some gloriously debaucherous and cause serious permanent damage.
Of the “Mona Lisa” remake he says he’d love convince someone like Mick Jagger to take the role. “There’s a great secondary role [the Michael Caine role] and I want to attract somebody really interesting. So I spent about three hours last night working on this character, who could be considered one-dimensional, giving him layers, and unpredictability and charisma. I’d love to do it with Mick Jagger. I’m trying to get Mick to do the other part. He’s someone I look up to, always have, I think he’s the man, and I want to have that come across, because my character is coming out of prison after 25 years, and this guy’s his old friend, and he’s waiting outside to explain things to me. So I wrote this scene where he’s saying [adopts a Jagger-esque drawl] ‘It ain’t the same, mate. It’s not just smash, grab and third-rate pimps on the street.’ So if I could get somebody of Mick’s caliber interested, that would fun.”
Mickey Rourke, writing scenes for Mick Jagger that don’t exist in a movie that’s not his? Does Larry Clark know about this? Frankly, if he read this, he’d probably be stoked.
Clark spoke to Movieline about the project today noting that the project will start principal photography on August 12 and that’s he’s still in the casting process for some roles. “Yes, it’s happening. I’m casting, I’m scouting. I’ll be shooting in New York because it’s a New York movie, though there will be some interiors in Toronto. We’ll shoot in Niagara Falls. I scouted Toronto last week, and I’m taking the red eye to meet Eva Green in New York tomorrow. It’s happening. And I’m really happy to be working with Mickey and Eva. It’s a great cast.”
He also alluded to the Michael Caine role that Rourke is talking about for Jagger when asked point blank about it. “I’m not sure [who’s playing the role] yet. We’re in negotiations with an actor right now.”
Note, even Larry Clark was against the remake idea at first and for the right reasons.
“The first thing I said was, “Why? It’s a classic film — why would you want to remake it?” Second, remakes hardly ever work. Third, it was done by a great living director. And that’s three strikes, you’re out. So I said I didn’t think I was interested. But he called again, and I agreed to meet him. He kind of convinced me. I said, “If I do it, I want to make it contemporary. I want to make it New York City. I want to write a new screenplay.” And he said OK. I wrote a new screenplay with David Reeves, and here we are. As an artist, I thought it would be a great challenge. And I may fail, but I wanted to accept the challenge.”
As for Rourke’s small cameo in Sly Stallone’s “The Expendables,” he calls it returning the favor. “Stallone, when I was a flat broke and I could hardly pay for a bowl of spaghetti in a restaurant, gave me a couple of weeks on ‘Get Carter,’ and that paid my fuckin’ rent for eight months.”