The movie Mickey Rourke admitted was terrible
Mickey Rourke is one of those actors who swings like a pendulum between excellent movies and outright duds, often one after the other. For example, in 2014, he returned to his much-lauded performance as Marv in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For before following with four consecutive direct-to-DVD films with titles such as Skin Traffik and Blunt Force Trauma.
In fact, in 1991, after two nominations for ‘Worst Actor’ at the Golden Raspberry Awards for Wild Orchid and Desperate Hours, the actor swung so far from these roles that he put acting on the back burner altogether, choosing instead to return to his boxing career. Although his career saw him turn in some truly incredible performances, the early 1990s certainly knocked the actor’s confidence.
Whilst continuing to appear in movies, Rourke’s priority lay firmly in the ring rather than on camera, and the results were nothing to sniff at: he won six out of eight professional matches, drawing on the remaining two. It wouldn’t be until Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 movie The Wrestler that audiences would see the actor return to superb form, playing the tragic Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson in the heartwrenching sports drama that earned Rourke a BAFTA for ‘Best Actor’.
All this being said, the boxer/actor still has plenty of blemishes on his resume, and it would appear that there is one in particular that he’d rather forget. Speaking with New York Magazine’s ‘Vulture’ column, Rourke held no punches when speaking about his 2011 film Passion Play.
“Terrible. Another terrible movie,” the actor said, leaving no room for ambiguity. The film itself featured Rourke alongside Megan Fox, Bill Murray and Rhys Ifans in a romantic gangster drama set in the world of jazz. It follows jazz trumpeter Nate (played by Rourke), who sleeps with a mobster’s wife and subsequently attracts the unwanted attention of a hardened crook.
Expounding more on the movie, Rourke sought to make peace with his choice of roles. “But, you know, in your career and all the movies you make, you’re going to make dozens of terrible ones,” he said. It’s not a bad way of looking at things, but considering the film features a subplot involving Fox as a circus performer who has a secret pair of literal wings on her back, it’s quite hard to understand just why exactly Rourke decided to come aboard.
Grossing less than $4,000 on a $15million budget, chances are those involved didn’t see much in the way of financial returns, and it proved to be the first and last time director Mitch Glazer ever got to sit in the director’s chair.
Watch the trailer for the “terrible movie” below.