{"id":235095,"date":"2026-01-15T19:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/235095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T19:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:21:12","slug":"when-mickey-rourke-put-a-gun-on-the-coffee-table-during-an-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/235095\/","title":{"rendered":"When Mickey Rourke Put a Gun on the Coffee Table During an Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tI once spent the better part of an evening alone with Mickey Rourke<\/a> in his West Village apartment, talking about his life, his career and everything he\u2019d done to derail both. The conversation was so fascinating, so shocking, so heartbreaking, there were even moments when I forgot the loaded pistol on the coffee table between us.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was also a syringe of B12, several packs of Marlboro Reds and a man who seemed determined to confess every mistake he\u2019d ever made before he\u2019d let me leave.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe talked for four or five hours \u2014 it felt more like a week and a half \u2014 and I had a front-row seat as Rourke all but flagellated himself, marching the stations of the cross of his own career. He wept more than once. He lit one Marlboro off the tip of another. And again and again, he came back to the same point: Everything that had gone wrong, he\u2019d done to himself.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe thing I remember most from that evening \u2014 other than the gun \u2014 was how contrite Rourke seemed. He didn\u2019t owe me anything, much less an apology, but it felt as if he was giving me one and that he wouldn\u2019t let me leave until I gave him absolution and told him everything would be OK. <\/p>\n

\n\tThis was back in 2008, when Rourke was making the promotional rounds for The Wrestler and attempting \u2014 once again \u2014 to claw his way back. But just the other day, some 18 years later, I began thinking about that interview. I took another look at my transcripts, wondering if they might contain some clues as to what\u2019s going on with Rourke right now, as he once again skids into what looks like rock bottom.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIn 2022, dealing with a fresh set of setbacks.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPaul Archuleta\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the past couple of weeks, the 73-year-old actor has found himself back in the headlines after it was reported that he was facing eviction from the Los Angeles home he\u2019d been living in, owing nearly $60,000 in unpaid rent. A GoFundMe campaign was quickly launched on his behalf by a member of his management team, prompting a fresh wave of concern \u2014 and confusion \u2014 after Rourke posted a video disavowing the fundraiser. \u201cIf I needed money, I wouldn\u2019t ask for no charity,\u201d he announced in a video post to his 500,000 Instagram followers looking visibly frustrated, even in a cowboy hat with his rescue dog Lucky on his lap. <\/p>\n

\n\tFor those too young to remember his first act in the 1980s, it\u2019s hard to overstate just how electric Rourke once was. He was beautiful and dangerous, with a barely concealed vulnerability that made you want to lean in when he spoke. He made an indelible impression as an arsonist calmly explaining how to get away with murder in Body Heat. He broke hearts in Diner. He became cult-movie royalty as Motorcycle Boy in Rumble Fish. And he delivered a flawless performance in The Pope of Greenwich Village that somehow went unrecognized by the Academy.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then a lot happened very quickly \u2014 a lot of it bad. Rourke tried to explain it to me as he lit another cigarette. \u201cI fucked up real bad,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew nothing about business or politics. I didn\u2019t even know they were in the equation! But it\u2019s a game, and we all have to kiss ass in life. I didn\u2019t know that then. A lot of the actors who are successful, you look around, these guys are college boys \u2014 Ben Affleck, Matt Damon. Me, I just thought you\u2019re either great or you suck. I\u2019m not saying I was great, but I knew I was on my way to being great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the end of the 1980s, he was making movies like 9\u00bd Weeks and Angel Heart and no longer was being talked about as one of the greatest actors of his generation \u2014 he was being talked about as a sex symbol. It was something he\u2019d never asked for and never wanted. To him, it felt like a death sentence. He ran from it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRourke with Kim Basinger in 1986\u2019s 9\u00bd Weeks, the movie that made him \u2014 much to his horror \u2014 a sex symbol.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat he did next was almost willfully self-destructive. In 1991, he largely walked away from acting and turned to boxing, making a serious run at becoming a professional fighter. By that point, he was done with Hollywood \u2014 and Hollywood was done with him. As 9\u00bd Weeks director Adrian Lyne once told me, \u201cIf Mickey had died after Angel Heart, he would have been remembered as James Dean or Marlon Brando.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Rourke didn\u2019t die. He destroyed himself.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe developed a reputation for being difficult on set. He showed up late. He didn\u2019t learn his lines. He behaved as if he were better than the material he was being paid handsomely to perform. Acting had come so easily to him that he no longer seemed to respect it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019d do some piece of shit for the money and then show up late and fuck everything up,\u201d he said. \u201cMore than half the movies I made around that time I didn\u2019t want to do. I bought a house that was way too expensive, cars, entourage, women, jewelry. If you ain\u2019t ever had it, once you get it, you spend it as quick as you can. Simple as that. I ain\u2019t never seen no Brinks truck at a funeral, and there ain\u2019t gonna be one at mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBetween 1991 and 1994, Rourke fought in eight professional bouts and didn\u2019t lose a single one. But he destroyed his face in the process. When he returned to acting, he looked like a different man. The pattern returned. He spent what he made. His marriage to Carr\u00e9 Otis became tabloid fodder. The roles got smaller.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen came The Wrestler. Against all odds, Rourke found his way back. The physical damage he\u2019d endured now served his character. He earned an Oscar nomination and appeared in high-profile studio movies again, including Iron Man 2 and The Expendables. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRourke in 2008\u2019s The Wrestler, yet another comeback that didn\u2019t end up sticking.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwentieth Century Fox\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then, slowly but surely, the pattern repeated itself. It wasn\u2019t too long before he once again was relying on friends and Good Samaritans for handouts \u2014 a couple hundred dollars here and there for McDonald\u2019s and Marlboro Reds.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince the GoFundMe story broke, Rourke has continued to surface in the news like a celebrity on some twisted PR death wish. On Jan. 9, he reportedly surrendered a shotgun to authorities for reasons that remain unclear. Around the same time, he also joined the cast of National Lampoon\u2019s Hollywood Hustle, a Tinseltown satire whose roll call includes Tara Reid, Alec Baldwin and Carrot Top.<\/p>\n

\n\tRourke is a proud man. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it\u2019s admirable. But over and over again \u2014 through the high highs and low lows of an EKG-like career \u2014 he has gotten in his own way. For fans, it has always been hard to watch and even harder to look away.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt this point, the rise-and-fall trajectory of Rourke\u2019s career feels like a long-running soap opera \u2014 one that\u2019s been airing for nearly four decades now. As a fan, I\u2019d love to see that soap opera end. But sometimes I wonder if Rourke knows how to stop it \u2014 or if he even wants to.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s what makes the past couple of weeks feel so sad. Not just the headlines, but the repetition. Mickey Rourke may look nothing like the heartthrob who once seduced audiences so effortlessly, but he\u2019s never stopped being a fascinating and compelling actor. He\u2019s like Hollywood\u2019s own Sisyphus \u2014 forever pushing the boulder uphill, only to be flattened by it again.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven now, after everything that\u2019s happened, I\u2019m certain he has more great performances left in him. I just hope he knows that, too. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRourke as Ivan Vanko\/Whiplash in 2010\u2019s Iron Man 2. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMerrick Morton\/Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appeared in the Jan. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I once spent the better part of an evening alone with Mickey Rourke in his West Village apartment,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,139136,127412,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-235095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-hollywood-flashback","11":"tag-mickey-rourke","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}