When Mickey Rourke was still a young, up-and-coming actor, he had loads of potential. The world was his oyster, and it looked like his future was nothing but bright and promising. He was one of those actors that could have gone on to become one of the biggest stars of his time, but as he started to grow a bit older, his life began to go off the rails, leading him to eventually take a step out back from the limelight.
His once-flourishing career took a nosedive, and his reputation began to fall apart. Although he eventually made a comeback of sorts after appearing in Darren Aronovsky’s The Wrestler in 2008, his acting career has never fully recovered. In fact, it’s looking a lot more like Rourke’s career is all but over.
Rourke may have been able to save his career, however, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s made quite a few enemies in Hollywood. Folks that Rourke has insulted, disparaged, and alienated include stars like Robert DeNiro, Tom Cruise, and Amber Heard. And really, he’s been pretty outspoken about dissing the entire industry while making just about everyone not want to work with him.
Keep watching to learn how Mickey Rourke’s acting career self-destructed and what he did to end up in that situation.
Mickey’s Problem With Tom Cruise
Rourke was recently interviewed on Piers Morgan Uncensored and was asked what he thought about Tom Cruise’s billion-dollar box office success with his latest film Top Gun: Maverick. Instead of congratulating a fellow actor on his success, he went off on a long hate-filled tirade running Cruise’s name through the mud.
“The guy’s been doing the same effing part for 35 years” Rourke said, before adding that he has no
‘respect for that’.
When elaborating on his hot take, Rourke explained that he has always looked up to and modeled his own work after stars like Christopher Walken, Monty Clift, and Marlon Brando, who, as he put it, stretched themselves as actors.
After Morgan asked him if he thought that Cruise was a good actor, Rourke replied by doubling down and reiterating his stance that in his eyes, Cruise is completely irrelevant.
He Thinks Amber Heard Is A Gold Digger
In that same interview with Piers Morgan, the 57-year-old actor branded his friend Johnny Depp’s ex-wife as a gold digger.
Rourke told Morgan that he’s known Depp for many years, but that he’s never really known him intimately.
That being said, Rourke expressed that he had once been in a situation where he was blamed for something that he didn’t do. Not only did that situation cost him several movie roles, but he claims that it also tarnished his reputation for several years.
Eventually, Rourke said that the truth came out, and he was cleared of wrongdoing. But by that time, his career had already taken a beating.
He went on to say that his personal story is what makes him feel bad for somebody that he sees as being ‘chopped down’ by a gold digger.
As you probably already know, Johnny Depp won his libel case against Amber Heard back in June. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star says that he now ‘has his life back’ after the jury ruled in his favor and awarded him with $15 million.
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Mickey Rourke Hates The Marvel Cinematic Universe
After appearing in 2008s The Wrestler, Rourke was cast as the villain Ivan Vanko aka Whiplash in Iron Man 2. While most stars would probably relish the opportunity to appear in such a big-budget blockbuster feature, Rourke apparently hated every last minute of his experience.
Even years later, the actor continues to take jabs at Marvel. His most recent remarks about the MCU came while he was praising Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which he apparently discovered while in quarantine during the early days of the pandemic.
Rourke made a post on social media in which he stated that he much prefers the ‘real acting’ seen on that television series over the ‘crap’ acting featured in Marvel films. Rourke then praised Law & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay for being a very concentrated actress who he thinks delivered a great performance in every episode of the series.
Mickey’s Beef With Robert DeNiro
In July of 2020, Rourke reignited his long-standing, one-sided public beef with actor Robert DeNiro by threatening him in a scathing Instagram post.
The then-67 year old posted a rather incendiary message along with a photo of DeNiro smoking a cigarette. Previously, the two actors appeared together in the 1987 neo-noir film Angel Heart.
In Rourke’s post, he referred to DeNiro as a big effing crybaby while saying “that’s right I’m talking to you”, making an apparent reference to DeNiro’s famous line from Taxi Driver.
Rourke went on to allege that he had been informed by a friend that Robert had called him a liar in a recent newspaper interview. He then went on to say that he was going to embarrass DeNiro “100% severely”.
Mickey wrapped up the post by signing it with “Mickey Rourke, as God is my witness”.
A year prior, Rourke told an Italian TV journalist that DeNiro had delivered a poor performance in Angel Heart. When asked why he thought that, Rourke relayed a time during the production of that film that DeNiro told him not to touch him during a scene that required contact. Apparently, after that Mickey lost all respect for the veteran actor.
Mickey further alleged in that same interview that DeNiro once blocked him from getting a role in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. Although after that interview, DeNiro’s press rep, Stan Rosenfield, sent out a statement debunking Rourke’s claim.
Mickey Rourke Thinks That “Most Actors Suck”
Mickey hardly ever minces his words. When he thinks something, regardless of how it’s going to be received, he says it how he sees it.
From his perspective, he thinks that Hollywood appears to reward an actor’s box-office potential more than their actual talent. In an interview with Parade, he once said that there are very few actors and actresses that he has any degree of respect for.
He went on to say that many stars get a lot of acclaim only because their films made lots of money at the box office.
“They still suck. I got no respect for them” Rourke candidly told the outlet.
Rourke added that he used to let actors know what he thought about them but eventually decided to show a little restraint for the sake of his career. Even so, he made it abundantly clear that his thoughts on the subject hadn’t changed. At the end of the day, he still believes that actors that find the most success in Hollywood are the ones that suck up the most to the right people.
Rourke’s beliefs are ones that he’s held since the early days of his career. In one recently resurfaced interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rourke offered very similar opinions on his fellow actors. Even then, he felt like mediocrity was rewarded in Hollywood much too often.
Still, in that interview, Rourke expressed respect for some of his contemporaries. Among those that Rourke had a high appreciation for at the time included Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. Those two actors Rourke felt like were ones that never sold out.
He’s Notorious For Being Difficult To Work With
By most accounts, Mickey Rourke is an actor who is not very easy to work with. Rourke has often been referred to a loose cannon while on set.
Director Alan Parker, who worked with Rourke on his film Angel Heart once said that working with him was a nightmare. He went on to tell People magazine that Mickey was very dangerous on set because you would never know what he was going to do next.
Others that have worked with Rourke previously have stated that he was known for having a short temper and that it was always his way or the highway. If you ended up getting on his bad side, you were in for one nerve-wracking experience.
With so many top-notch actors vying for roles, it makes you wonder why a filmmaker would choose to work with someone as volatile and universally disliked as Mickey. By all accounts, Mickey’s bad reputation is the main reason why his film career has all-but fizzled out.
Where there you have it. Apparently Mickey Rourke is one of the last people you’d ever want to be cast alongside. Not only is he a pain in the rear to work with, but judging by things he’s said about his former co-stars, he’s pretty much guaranteed to run your name through the dirt if you ever do anything that remotely ticks him off.
You’ve heard what we have to say. Now we’d love to hear from you. Did you know that Mickey Rourke was such an opinionated jerk, and do you think that his career will ever recover? Let us know in the comments.
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