I always have to say this defensively, since his public persona has become so off-putting to so many people that it largely overshadows the good work he's done over the years as a performer.
And quite frankly his handful of great performances are often overshadowed by the easy paycheck, direct-to-DVD junk he largely makes, especially since it his triumphant Oscar-nominated comeback role in The Wrestler, back in 2008.
No disrespect to Sean Penn, who won the Best Actor trophy for Milk, but Rourke should have won that year for his heartbreaking work as a "broken down piece of meat" seeking redemption. I always wonder where his career might have gone had he received that industry validation. He certainly briefly capitalized on his return to the limelight.
He parlayed his eccentric, unorthodox presence into supporting roles in two blockbusters: Iron Man 2 and The Expendables. He was, I think unfairly, maligned for his work in the former and deemed somewhat out of place in the latter (where he delivers a moving monologue that seems to be from another movie entirely).
After that one-two punch he never had another real A-list role. He popped up in the forgettable Sin City sequel but for the most part he appeared in endless B-movie crime films and continued his unfortunate penchant for plastic surgery, rendering his already disfigured face even more ghastly.
As a true fan, I was always holding out hope for one more great Rourke performance -- a rumored biopic about an openly gay rugby star never came to be -- but it seems as though no great filmmaker since Darren Aronofsky is willing to take a chance on him.
Which leads me to the recent Rourke embarrassment -- his public insistence that he was snubbed for a role in The Irishman due to some long simmering feud with that acclaimed film's star Robert De Niro. Allegedly the two actors didn't get along during the shoot for the 1987 supernatural thriller Angel Heart. That doesn't surprise me, at the time Rourke was being hyped as something akin to the new De Niro and I am sure was feeling himself and meanwhile De Niro, who doesn't have a reputation for jocular warmth, probably resented the upstart.
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| De Niro and Rourke in Angel Heart |
That being said, it seems ludicrous that over 30 years later he would be actively lobbying against Rourke getting a role in Scorsese's epic film. It's not even entirely clear what role Rourke could have played -- given his physical appearance at the moment. Scorsese has wisely stayed out of it, neither confirming or denying that Rourke was in contention.
Meanwhile, the 60-something former sex symbol is now publicly lobbing insults and physical threats at the nearly 80-year-old De Niro -- and to what end?
The Irishman is now forever a part of film history. It's all there on screen and it seems unlikely that it would have been improved upon by a Rourke cameo. Unfortunately, Rourke's career is full of near misses (he foolishly turned down lead roles in movies like The Untouchables) and unfortunate cuts (his small role in The Thin Red Line didn't survive the editing process).
He is a unique talent, a throwback to the raw emotional power of a Marlon Brando --but there just doesn't seem to be an appetite for his antics anymore. It's all really quite sad, because he may be remembered more as a 30 Rock punchline than the great actor he was and could continue to be.
Instead of protesting that he could have been in The Irishman I wish he were more actively seeking out roles in films of its caliber. If only for selfish reasons, I want to see one of my favorite actors shine in a part worthy of him just one more time.
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