5 Acting Performances That Defied The Years
3. Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
A star of 80s cinema, Mickey Rourke appeared in various movies in the decade after making his breakthrough in 82s Diner. Just a couple of movies for Rourke in the years that followed include Rumble Fish and 9 ½ weeks, he was a star, a sex symbol and he seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. Yet as the 80s gave way to the 90s his private life began to make more headlines than his career and he soon made the decision to switch vocations to that of a boxer. If his questionable decisions hadnt done enough damage to his career already, then the damage to his face probably killed it for good.
Mickeys boxing career was an unmitigated disaster; though he was undefeated in his eight professional bouts, he was already knocking on the door of forty when he turned professional and as such had no real chance of fighting the top boxers in the world. He suffered various injuries but the most damaging of all was to his facial features, which would never be restored to what they once were. His commitment to boxing led to him turning down several roles, including that of Butch Coolidge in Quinton Tarantinos Pulp Fiction. Having retired from boxing with his good looks gone and his acting career in tatters, it looked like curtains for Mickey. After spending a period of time appearing in direct-to-video movies, Rourke returned to the mainstream with Robert Rodriguezs Sin City and capitalised on this renewed interest by selecting a role that would launching him to a level of notoriety that he did not experience the first time around. Randy The Ram Robinsons glory days were far behind him- he was a star in the big leagues of the wrestling world- but now, like Rourke, he was reduced to appearing in seedy, low budget events. Yet he could no let go. The Rams final leap towards glory at the end of The Wrestler- coincided with Mickey Rourkes rising like a phoenix from the ashes- as he reignited his Hollywood career in a big way.