10 Movies That Gave Actors The Idea To Do Something REALLY STUPID
4. Mickey Rourke Turned Down Major Roles To Return To Boxing - Homeboy
Long before he became an actor, Mickey Rourke spent years fighting as an amateur boxer, racking up an impressive record of 27-3 between 1964 and 1973.
But after receiving several concussions in the ring, Rourke decided to temporarily hang up the gloves and made a transition into acting, where he became a consistently acclaimed performer throughout the 1980s.
In 1988 he starred in the boxing drama Homeboy, working from a script he also wrote as was evidently influenced by his own experiences in the ring.
Yet the film was made at a time where Rourke felt that he was "self destructing," resulting in him turning down juicy roles in the likes of Platoon, Top Gun, Rain Man, and The Silence of the Lambs.
And so in 1991, Rourke took a sabbatical from Hollywood and returned to the boxing ring, where he was undefeated in eight professional fights.
Yet the bevy of injuries he sustained - including a broken nose, split tongue, and compressed cheekbone - resulted in him requiring extensive reconstructive surgery.
And so, when Rourke returned to Hollywood in the mid-1990s, his physical appearance - namely his face - was markedly different from the ruggedly handsome Rourke of the '80s, which in combination with his reputation for being "difficult," severely hampered his ability to get cast in major movies.
Rourke did enjoy a fitful career resurgence in the 2000s with his high-profile appearances in Sin City, The Wrestler, and Iron Man 2, yet it's safe to say that Rourke unwittingly torpedoed his Hollywood career at its peak, when lucrative offers were being thrown at him left and right.