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mickey rourke interview

posted 19 years ago by teejay6682
5 replies | jump to latest

there's a fairly recent but pre-sin city interview with rourk on the "angel heart" dvd that came out last summer. barfly is my favorite mickey rourke movie, i think it's way better then the pope of greenich village which is a very overrated cult film but mickey chose to praise that film over this one. he didn't have many nice things to say about barfly which is really depressing since i really like him and his performance in this film. he said that he though bukowski was "ok for a drunk". the director barbet schroeder was "an *beep* dialogue was interesting. i liked working with faye dunaway. that was fun. the character..well...it was what it was". that sucks. i like him in that film. i guess mickey doesn't have very good taste in his work.

[–] thedwork 19 years ago

that's interesting teejay. i think most people would agree that 'barfly' is rourke's best work so far. i certainly think it is. brilliant. he may distance himself from it subconsciously because of bukowski's comments on it. i've heard that he didn't like the way rourke played him. which is a shame, because from what i've read and seen about charles (mainly the recent documentary), rourke's portrayal is pretty dead on, and maybe even paints him in a more positive light than the reality of the man. who knows. great movie for sure.

[–] squelcho 19 years ago

Mickey Rourke is renowned for burning his bridges.
This movie, along with Angel Heart and The Year of the Dragon have made up for all the stinkers he's fallen into before Rodriguez dragged him out of the pits.
I've always thought it was a shame that such a talented guy could be so self-destructive, and alienate his career to a virtual standstill.
Barfly is one of those unforgettable films with fine central performances, a great script, awesome cameos, and a "difficult" director.
Schroeder knew how to get a movie made on time, because he was usually producing as well as directing, and he had a rep as a moody perfectionist. It's easy to see how that could annoy intuitive actors like Rourke and Dunaway.
I like the bleak humour and little details like the guy using his scarf as a steadying influence. A gem of a film.

[–] teejay6682 19 years ago

i have barfly on dvd and there's an old making of doc on the extra features. it shows bukowski praising his performance in 2 different scenes. now in one of them, rourke is standing next to him so it's not like he'd rip into it in the middle of filming. the thing is he's not trying to just do an impersonation of bukowski. he created his own character. sean penn almost got the part and i think it would have been very different and too serious. i've read the filmmaker of that new bukowski doc thinks mickey turned bukowski into a 2 dimensional cartoon character. clearly people not happy with mickey's take on the character, are just peeved that it's not how they want it to be and can't appreciate what it is. the character is slightly over the top but that's part of its charm. they also think schroeder didn't do bukowski justice which i can accept. it's a better performance then a film (not dissing the film, it just wouldn't be anything without rourke.)

[–] squelcho 19 years ago

Got to agree about the performance aspect. Mickey Rourke seems to have recognised a lot of Bukowski's self destructive character traits in his own career. He's almost parodying himself at times, but never quite loses the plot.
There's some real method in his madness. Maybe that's what annoyed the Bukowski perfectionists. Rourke seems to play it by instinct.
I'm no great fan of Faye Dunaway, but she too is rock solid in this movie. Whoever cast them in the roles knew exactly what they were doing.
I can't imagine Sean Penn in the lead role. Chris Penn maybe, in his pomp, but not his skinny little brother.

[–] Imaginary-friend 19 years ago

chris penn is a non-entity and sean could have pulled it off but then i guess it'd have turned out with more gravitas and less tongue in cheek rourke. this film is such a rare gem and flawless curio that i really can't fault it in any way. the script and acting are really beyond misgivings. it smacks of everything you'd want from a film of its type. faye dunaway is a lush i reckon anyway. you should see her in drunks. another great wino flick. and mickey can't be trusted to praise his own work, he's too self-effacing and careless with his observations. and that is because like many creative and talented peolle, they see too much and tear everything down.

i love this film because of the humour, the struggle to get it made, the cast and not onlt frank stallone being a damned legend in this film but the cimematography from robby muller who also brought us paris texas and most of the jim jarmusch films. you really need to read bukowski and watch the extras on the dvd to know why this film is a real gem.