Back in the day Mickey Rourke used to be a boxer. In fact, that’s what he did during the early nineties when his career had stalled. It’s also why Rourke had to have massive plastic surgery. Years of boxing can do a lot of damage to your face. Now Rourke is saying he plans to get into wrestling – though it’s certainly not because his career is suffering.

Mickey Rourke is taking this wrestling thing way too seriously. Hollywood’s comeback kid du jour, who just notched an Oscar nomination for playing a washed-up pro grappler in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, is eyeing the ring for real, announcing on the red carpet at last night’s SAG Awards that he plans to participate in the WWE’s Wrestlemania 25 in Houston April 5.

“The nicest thing has been the whole wrestling community embracing us,” Rourke tells E! News. “The movie was about their world and so I think maybe I’m gonna do Wrestlemania in Houston. I had some dialogue with Vince McMahon and Rick Flair, Roddy Piper and all the rest of them and they’ve been really supportive.” To prepare for his Golden Globe-winning, SAG-nominated role, Rourke bulked up his 56-year-old frame and trained for months to master the complex ring moves.

Which begs the question: Is Rourke (a) taking Method acting to a new level, (b) still punch-drunk from that ill-fated boxing career, or (c) just playing by his own rules? For now, we’re going with (c).

While Rourke didn’t say he was actually going to grapple with the pros, he does have his trash talk down pat. “Chris Jericho, you better get in shape,” said Rourke, “because I’m coming after your ass.”

[From E! News]

Rourke would certainly get a lot of attention if tried his hand at pro wrestling. Not that he needs any of it. In fact he’s been getting plenty of attention from the ladies lately. Earlier this month he was seen with tactress Bai Ling, and since then he’s been spotted making out with 21-year-old Evan Rachel Wood several times. They even got a room together after the SAG awards. Gross.

Wood played his daughter in “The Wrestler,” and had tried to explain all the sightings of the two together as “bonding.” Not that I’d expect either of these people to ever be classy, but somehow seeing them together is still shocking to me. Something tells me we’ll see Wood cheering ringside for Rourke any day now.

Here’s Rourke in “The Wrestler.” Images thanks to WENN.

Brad Pitt is a God-fearing man. It’s just that his gods are Mickey Rourke, Sean Penn and Gary Oldman. Pitt was promoting Benjamin Button in Paris when he reacted to his Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and to his film’s thirteen total nominations. He complimented his fellow nominees by saying, “When I started out my Gods, so to speak, were Gary Oldman, Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke.”

Pitt also complimented co-nominee Richard Jenkins, saying, “And since then Richard Jenkins has become a great friend and someone I admire.” Pitt did not offer any praise or compliments to Frost/Nixon’s Frank Langella, however. The ghost of Nixon will haunt him now.

Brad Pitt said he is honoured to have made the Oscar Best Actor nominations list.

The actor was out in Paris promoting his film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – a drama where he plays a man who ages backwards.

The film led the field of Oscar contenders with 13 nominations, including best picture.
Pitt said: “When I started out my Gods, so to speak, were Gary Oldman, Sean Penn and Mikey Rourke and so it’s a real honour for me to be sitting at the same table and be mentioned in the same way with these fine actors.

“And since then Richard Jenkins has become a great friend and someone I admire… So it’s a fickle business but it’s nice when your number comes up.”

Pitt, arrived at the premiere of the film with his partner Angelina Jolie but she slipped into the background while he promoted his movie.

Pitt said: “The Benjamin character is really more about receiving, about the people he meets along the way. They have the burden of performance and Benjamin has the burden of taking all that in and how he simulates that.”

The film will vie for best picture with Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Reader and Frost/Nixon.

[From ITN News]

Sean Penn and Brad Pitt have made a film together called Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick. When filming last year, there was gossip that they didn’t get along and that there were many fights between the two actors. I wonder if there was any truth to the rumored “battle” and if Brad is trying to make nice with Sean Penn. God know Sean won’t be the one to try to bury the hatchet first.

Here’s Mickey Rourke with Bai Ling in London on January 12th. Images thanks to Fame.

Mickey Rourke, 56, has been spotted getting hot and heavy in public with nipple slip queen Bai Ling, 42. The two made out at celebrity hot spot Chateau Marmont. There’s no word if they rented a room afterwards. Just try to get that image out of your head now – you can’t do it, can you?

MICKEY Rourke (above) is already reaping the benefits of his comeback. The star of “The Wrestler” was at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood the other night with Sean Penn and his long-suffering wife, Robin Wright Penn, when, our witnesses said, Rourke was accosted by fame-craving Bai Ling. Rourke was only too happy to oblige the Chinese-born actress and the two “made out and partied pretty hard.”

[From The NY Post via Gossip Rocks]

Rourke was linked to Pamela Anderson in September after the two were also spotted making out at a club. Those two seem to make a little more sense than Rourke and Bai Ling, although Ling is in such a league of her own it’s hard to think of a celebrity who make make a good match for her – maybe Dane Cook.

I saw Rourke on “The Tonight Show” on Tuesday night and he was pretty low key with Leno. Leno was his former neighbor so they reminisced a little about the good old days when Rourke was swimming in cash and used to have all his biker buddies over the mansion, their bikes lined up 20 deep outside. Rourke also talked about the pain of his career slump and how he started to get desperate after about 11 years. He told a story about how called up a friend and asked him for a construction job somewhere, only to get hung up on because the guy thought he was joking. Rourke worked as a boxer for around five and a half years in the early 90s when the offers weren’t coming in. For those of you who have mentioned his very obviously altered face – it’s revealed in an interview with CNN that he needed extensive reconstruction after all the damage from years of boxing. He also suffered balance problems and memory loss.

In the CNN article Rourke talked about how his award winning role in The Wrestler was cathartic for him. The character helped him work through the trauma and grief he had after losing everything when he couldn’t get roles due to self destructive behavior. We’ll see if that life-changing role for Rourke also earns him an Oscar. He’s getting more work as it is and things are looking way up for him. He’s even scoring with D-listers.

Now that Mickey Rourke is anticipating his comeback, he’s ready to give interviews to magazines and make a complete fool of himself.  Rourke has never been one to keep his opinions to himself, and in the new issue of GQ the conversation turns to politics.  Hollywood is infamously liberal and Rourke is a conservative, so it would easy for the media to jump on him for his views.  But it is not his political leanings that make the interview interesting.  Instead, it’s the fact that he doesn’t want anyone with differing views to be allowed to speak out.  First, Rourke defends President Bush and rebukes the public for blaming the president for the current world situation, especially in regards to the reaction to the World Trade Center attacks in 2001.

“President Bush was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don’t know how anyone could have handled this situation.

“I don’t give a f**k who’s in office, Bush or whoever, there is no simple solution to this problem… I’m not one of those who blames Bush for everything. This s**t between Christians and Muslims goes back to the Crusades, doesn’t it.

“It’s too easy to blame everything on one guy. These are unpredictable, dangerous times, and I don’t think that anyone really knows quite what to do.”

Rourke also confesses he was so angry after 9/11, he wanted to fight the war on terror himself.
He adds, “I’m not politically educated. But I do know that after 9/11 I wanted to go over there, you know what I’m saying?”

[from Contact Music]

Then he accuses (liberal) actors of being too loose-lipped when it comes to politics.

“Actors should shut up about politics, because they tend to be ill-informed finger-pointers who just cozy up to some flavor-of-the-month liberal, you know?”

[from Pop Crunch]

Finally, he accuses the British government for upholding the freedom of speech:

He explains, “I was in London recently and I couldn’t believe all these hate-talking fanatics you have over here who are allowed to carry on doing their thing even when a bus full of women and children gets blown to pieces.”

[from Contact Music]

Just to be clear: Mickey Rourke thinks actors shouldn’t talk about politics, and that freedom of speech is overrated, unless you’re a conservative or, more importantly, Mickey Rourke. After all, his home country (the US) does have freedom of speech, meaning that he is entitled to any and all of his opinions.

And although some of his views may have merit, what bothers me about this is that he doesn’t think that everyone should have the same rights.  That’s not the kind of attitude that will solve any world problems or ensure his comeback among Hollywood elite.

This also isn’t the first time he’s been in the news recently for not keeping his mouth shut. Maybe he should take his own advice.

Mickey Rourke is shown in the press room after the Golden Globes. Credit: Fame

With his recent film The Wrestler appearing on lists of the top movies of 2008, >, it’s no surprise that Mickey Rourke’s next career move will be closely watched.  In addition to filming 13 and the Sylvester Stallone film The Expendables, Rourke is attempting to cash in on a blockbuster franchise by playing a villain in Iron Man 2.

Rourke is in discussions to play the Crimson Dynamo, a heavily tattooed Russian arms dealer. He’s considered to be an evil version of Iron Man because he battles the superhero in a nuclear-powered suit of armor.

Script is still being written by Justin Theroux, and Marvel has been trying to keep a wrap on details leaking out to fanboys.

[From Variety]

Although it seems to be clear that he will be playing a tattooed Russian bad guy, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter can’t agree on the name of his character.  THR reports:

Rourke would play a tattooed Russian heavy named Ivan who becomes Whiplash, a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils.

[from THR]

Whatever his character’s name, Iron Man seems like a good choice for Rourke.  The Wrestler, a gritty film, was done by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, Pi), and proved that he has the chops to take on heavy roles.  If he does well as Whiplash/ Crimson Dynamo, he’ll also prove that he has star power.  Although the Iron Man franchise is not as dark and therefore not as demanding as, say, The Dark Knight, the first film held together well with wise casting choices.  Rourke will have a lot to live up to.  Robert Downey, Jr. is of course returning as Tony Stark, Gwenyth Paltrow will continue as Pepper Potts, and Don Cheadle is replacing Terrence Howard as Rhodey.

I’m not so sure, however, about the Stallone film The Expendables.  The movie also stars Jason Satham, Stallone, Jet Li, and Forest Whitaker, and sounds like exactly the kind of B movie Rourke’s agent will be turning down after Iron Man.

Mickey Rourke is shown at the Critics Choice Awards on 1/8/08. Credit: WENN

Mickey Rourke is thought to be a contender for the best actor Academy Award with his moving performance in The Wrestler. He may be jeopardizing his chance at getting a nomination however with this latest news that he’s been trashing the competition, Sean Penn, for his performance in the biopic Milk. A journalist for The Daily Beast claims to have seen a text message that Rourke sent an industry insider in which he calls Penn a homophobe who gave an average performance in the film. Rourke was also supposedly overheard dismissing Penn’s performance on another occasion. It looks like someone is a little insecure about his hard-earned chance at an Oscar nod:

After his December 23 appearance on David Letterman, Rourke told someone backstage that he was surprised that so many people seemed to think that Penn was his Oscar competition since “I’m not even sure he’ll get a nomination.”

On December 28, a Los Angeles entertainment honcho shared a text message with me that Rourke had sent him: “Look seans an old friend of mine and i didnt buy his performance at all—thought he did an average pretend acting like he was gay besides hes one of the most homophobic people i kno” [sic]

“It’s a shame,” says one veteran Hollywood lawyer. “Mickey should be looking at this as a once in a career chance for a fresh start. But dumping on Penn is not going to win him any friends. It’s not the way to get Oscar votes.”

Rourke’s publicist says “there is no Oscar feud between Mickey and Sean. They have known each other and been friends for a very long time. Mickey attended the New York premiere of Milk to support Sean and only has the greatest respect for him.” She adds that Rourke is ”completely unaware of the text.”

[From The Daily Beast via WeSmirch]

The article says that Rourke’s friends know he’s an outspoken and blunt person who doesn’t mince words. He is also supposedly friends with Penn, so maybe Penn will shrug it off if he knows that’s Rourke’s style. This could work out to Penn’s benefit in the long run. The academy isn’t likely to forget Rourke’s rude dismissal of Penn when it comes time to vote. Maybe Rourke will issue a statement saying he never sent that message or that his words were taken out of context. He’s got to be afraid of the repercussions of losing the coveted award if he’s so actively talking smack about the competition.

In “The Wrestler,” actress Marisa Tomei plays the stripper girlfriend of an aging wrestler played by Mickey Rourke. Marisa, 44, says she prepared for the raunchy role by taking pole dancing lessons and watching the skanky hos on the VH1 reality show, “Rock of Love.”

Oscar winner MARISA TOMEI studied rocker BRET MICHAELS’ raunchy reality show ROCK OF LOVE as part of her stripper research for new movie THE WRESTLER.

The actress tried pole dancing too – just to make sure she’d look authentic in her film debut as an exotic dancer.

She explains, “I had a friend who is a yoga teacher and she does a lot of pole dancing so I asked her to teach me. I went to a lot of clubs and watched to see the different styles of dancing.

“I would practice in a dance room with a bar and a mirror, like a ballet studio. I watched Rock of Love, that reality show with Bret Michaels, where he’s trying to get a wife and they’re all strippers. That was my closest association to the actual world of it.”

And her brief flirtation with the world of the stripper has brought Tomei a new love: “I like going to strip clubs now.”

[From Contact Music]

Well, it’s nice to know that piece of garbage show isn’t totally useless. I’ve always liked Marisa – she’s a talented actress. She went through a dry spell for a while there, so it’s nice to see her working again. Early buzz is that Mickey Rourke’s performance is a powerhouse in this movie. He plays a professional wrestler – based on Hulk Hogan and Randy “Macho Man ” Savage who is trying to make a comeback – sort of like Rocky. If it sounds like a stinker, keep in mind that the director is Darren Aronofsky, the director behind “Requiem for a Dream,” “Pi” and “The Fountain.” So, if nothing else, it will be a great looking stinker about pro wrestling and stripping.

Marisa Tomei is shown at screening of The Wrestler in New York City on Dec. 8. Still photos from “The Wrestler,” including one of Marisa’s character performing at a strip club. Photo credit: WENN.

In a perfect example of how blood is thicker than, well, fake blood poured over you in a weird music video, Evan Rachel Wood has dumped shock-rocker boyfriend, Marilyn Manson, because he tried to kick her brother out of the guest house.

“Evan owned the house and didn’t want her unemployed sibling living on the street,” a source tells Star. “It was the tipping point. Evan was fed up with how controlling and emotionally abusive Marilyn was.”

The actress-singer, 21, started dating the 18- years-older goth rocker in December 2006, as his marriage to Dita Von Teese was collapsing.

[From Star Magazine]

What could Evan’s brother have done to make Marilyn Manson go all “dad” on him and try to kick his unemployed ass out of the guest house? Whatever it was, Wood’s real parents are probably going to be making it an extra special Christmas for Ira Wood this year. He finally broke the spell Manson has had on Evan for the last two years, that’s worth a few extra gifts this year. I want to give him a stocking full of candy, myself.

Evan Rachel Wood may have already been getting ready to run, though. Questionable affection with Mickey Rourke on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in September led some to speculate Wood was moving on to someone even more creepy looking than Manson. Wood co-starred with Rourke in the critically acclaimed upcoming release The Wrestler. Nothing more than a professional relationship seemed to have come of it, but time will tell now that she’s kicked Manson to the curb. Evan Rachel Wood really seems to have some daddy issues, though, future Rourke hook-up or not.

It will be interesting to watch Evan’s style over the coming months. She has an all-American girl look when she’s not trying to conform to the image Marilyn Manson wanted. She’s made valiant attempts at replicating Dita, and has looked stunning on occasion, but it never seemed natural. I think we’ll see a new, younger looking, more casual Evan Rachel Wood come out of this. As long as she can keep the spell broken.

Evan Rachel Wood is shown with her brother, Ira David Wood, below at the Running With Scissors premiere on 10/10/06. Credit: PRPhotos. She is shown looking much skinnier at the NY Film Festival on 10/12/08. Credit: WENN and with Manson in the header photo on 9/13/07. Credit: Bauergriffin

Pamela Anderson, 41, was good and soused on champagne at a club in Toronto a couple of weeks ago when she decided it would be a good idea to start making out with Mickey Rourke, 52. [Wiki lists his age as 56, IMDB, 52.] Rourke is a minor male celebrity with a face that’s very obviously surgically altered. If you’re really drunk and the lighting is dim, he might look absolutely normal, though. And his proximity to you on the couch could somehow lead you to believe that fate has brought you together and you may as well take advantage of the moment. Of course the same could be said of Anderson.

Pamela Anderson got hot and heavy with a surprising new man while at the Century Room nightclub in Toronto on September 9: actor Mickey Rourke. “Pam was drinking a lot of champagne and then she started getting close to Mickey,” an onlooker tells In Touch. The actor – in Toronto to promote his new movie The Wrestler – didn’t seem to mind the attention. “All of a sudden they started kissing!” the onlooker adds. “The looked into each other’s eyes.”

Although a rep for Mickey, 52, denies the hookup, an insider believes it was only a one-time thing.

“The hookup was nothing serious,” the insider tells In Touch.

[From In Touch, print edition, September 29, 2008]

It seems like every few weeks you hear of two celebrities making out that you might assume don’t know each other, but who make sense when you think of it. Anderson and Rourke are two people you could definitely picture together, rubbing their fake faces all over each other, the reshaped parts bumping and grinding as they try and get some respite from reality in the sunset of their careers.

I wasn’t going to cover the whole “Mickey Rourke got a DUI” thing because let’s face it, celebrity DUIs are a dime a dozen these days. It’s not just the partying skanky crowd that gets them, Rebecca De Mornay got one a few days ago, General Hospital’s Kirsten Storms, and some other big and small celebs. It’s starting to seem like it’s a right of passage for them. And really, while they’re upsetting, they’re generally not all that interesting. Now Mickey Rourke was riding a Vespa scooter, which does make it a little funnier. Not funny “ha ha” funny “unusual.” But I still wasn’t going to touch the story. And then I found out it was a mint green Vespa. And that changed everything.

You’d think Mickey Rourke getting busted on a DUI would only reaffirm the actor’s badass reputation. Ditto that cops dubbed him “uncooperative” during the arrest. But the fact that he was collared while tooling around town on a mint green Vespa? That detail could hurt him. The star of Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man was arrested for driving under the influence in Miami Beach early Thursday, after cops spotted him making an illegal U-turn on his trusty scooter. He spent several hours in the Miami-Dade County Jail before posting $1,000 bond.

According to the police report, Rourke was stopped at a red light at 4:11 a.m. and then proceeded to weave across the northbound side of the street “several times” before police pulled him over. Per the report, Rourke greeted the officers with a cheery, “What the f–k did I do?” Miami Beach police officer P. Socarras, who stopped the 55-year-old, described Rourke as having “a flushed face, bloodshot watery eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.” Rourke apparently didn’t see it that way. “I’m not drunk,” he told the officer, per the arrest report. “I didn’t even drink that much.”

[From E! News]

Rourke was just barely over the legal limit of .08 – he blew a 0.081. My guess is that it’ll get thrown out. The best part was when he left the police station with his shirt completely unbuttoned and flapping in the wind. A mint green Vespa and exposing your nipples on your way out of jail? What a carefree spirit!