Mickey Rourke Read online

  MICKEY ROURKE

  Published by Transit Publishing Inc.

  Copyright © 2010 by Sandro Monetti

  The reproduction or transmission of any part of this publication in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, or storage in a retrieval system, without the prior consent of the publisher, is an infringement of copyright law. In the case of photocopying or other reprographic production of the material, a licence must be obtained from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright) before proceeding.

  ISBN: 978-1-926893-34-1

  Cover design: François Turgeon

  Text design and composition: Nassim Bahloul

  Cover photo:

  © Steve Read/Contour Getty Images

  Transit Publishing Inc.

  1996 St-Joseph Boulevard East

  Montreal, QC

  H2H 1E3

  Tel: 514-273-0123

  www.transitpublishing.com

  Printed and Bound in Canada

  Sandro Monetti

  MICKEY ROURKE:

  WRESTLING WITH DEMONS

  PREFACE

  “Most people are never lucky enough to hang out with their heroes, but tonight I’m so fortunate to share the stage with someone who has greatly inspired and entertained me for years. Ladies and gentlemen…Mickey Rourke!”

  With those words, I introduced the comeback king of Hollywood at a Q&A following the British Academy screening in Los Angeles of his life-changing movie The Wrestler. The large crowd got to its feet, clapping and cheering, giving an almost deafening ovation to show huge appreciation and sweet affection for a star who was finally receiving the recognition his immense talent deserved.

  Every year, during what Hollywood calls “awards season,” I interview the big movie stars in the running for the film industry’s glittering prizes at special screenings held for the various groups who vote for these awards. The likes of Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem, and Viggo Mortensen would take their turns talking to me and the audience about their prestigious projects. But it always seemed as if someone was missing from this annual glory circuit, and that was the most utterly mesmerizing and intriguing actor of his generation.

  When Mickey Rourke burst onto the scene over twenty-five years ago, he made an instant impact in movies like 9½ Weeks and Rumble Fish, and he was widely hailed as the most exciting new acting talent since James Dean or Marlon Brando. Fans like me certainly thought so and expected a string of Oscars, BAFTAs and blockbusters to follow. But a self-destructive tendency of almost Shakespearian proportion meant it didn’t work out that way.

  A succession of disastrous choices derailed his Hollywood career. His reputation for fighting with producers, showing up late to sets, not sticking to the script, bad-mouthing colleagues, and raising hell wherever he went served to burn all his bridges in Tinseltown. He looked washed-up, a has-been who would never return to the big time.

  Mickey then made the extraordinary decision to change careers and become a professional boxer. He won his fights but lost his Hollywood looks, with the features that made him famous battered to a pulp. Some freaky facial surgery didn’t help. After retiring from the ring, a need for cash motivated his return to acting, but a succession of dud films looked to have finished him off for good. He had two broken marriages behind him, lost his brother to cancer, was all alone in the world, and had nothing going for him except his enduring talent.

  But there’s still magic in the Hollywood hills and sometimes it only takes one or two great performances to turn an actor’s fortunes around and put him back on top. First came his stunning supporting role as tough but tender vigilante Marv in 2005’s Sin City. Then, late in 2008, the buzz about Mickey’s lead performance in a low-budget but high-quality new movie entitled The Wrestler – sparked by glowing reviews and film festival prizes – rapidly grew into a crescendo that screamed from the rooftops one loud and clear message: “Mickey is back!”

  The title character he played, Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a once-great wrestler now seemingly past his prime and beaten down by life but looking for a return to the big time, had so many parallels with Mickey’s own roller-coaster life that it was hard to see where the character began and the man playing him ended.

  The critics raved about his career-reviving performance and as he did the rounds of press conferences, Q&As, and personal appearances to promote the movie, Mickey not only found himself in the running for Best Actor Oscar but also realized there had been a silent army of Mickey Rourke fans out there who were now emerging from the shadows to shake his hand and share their enthusiasm for his current success.

  I was one of them. As an international showbiz reporter for Britain’s biggest newspapers, I have covered Mickey’s headline-hitting career for two decades, attending his countless entertaining press conferences around the globe. As a fan, I bought tickets to his fights, became a frequent customer at the tiny café he used to own, and eagerly went to see every single one of his films, even those most people have never heard of – like Picture Claire, Fall Time, and the killer insect movie They Crawl.

  For those of us who had followed his career so closely, it was a great thrill when The Wrestler saw this dazzling and charismatic performer rebound from the wilderness to the big time.

  And so it was that, as one of the actors in contention for honors, he set foot on the awards circuit and our paths crossed, for the first time in years, at that British Academy of Film and Television Arts LA screening of The Wrestler. Mickey didn’t disappoint. He was everything I expected – tall and solid, moving with a tough guy swagger, shaking hands with sausage-like fingers, and showing up with a little dog and a large entourage. The dog was Loki, a seventeen-year-old Chihuahua that had become his constant companion, and the lively entourage included action star Jason Statham, model Lisa Snowdon, and wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper. Mickey was flamboyantly dressed, as usual, and I was, too, which prompted my hero to greet me with the words, “Have you been raiding my closet?”

  Fascinated to see the once down-and-out actor who had suddenly become Hollywood’s darling again, the packed crowd hung on his every word as Mickey related his comeback tale to me on stage, then graciously answered all the audience questions and seemingly shook every hand. The event ran way over time, but not a single person left before the end.

  Off stage, Mickey and I talked more about how far he’d come and what an extraordinary life he’d had. It’s been quite a journey, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading about it over the course of the following chapters.

  Mickey Rourke: Wrestling with Demons uncovers many fresh and fascinating stories about one of the most colorful figures in film history. From the night he set his home on fire to the day he trembled while having his ear pierced, it’s all here, along with behind-the-scenes revelations from his films, including the movie he made in return for a paper bag stuffed with cash and the film for which he got into character by boarding a plane dressed as a woman.

  Written with affection and insight but at the same time pulling no punches, this book aims to be a worthy tribute to, and an entertaining document of, a turbulent life lived from one huge drama to another by a bewitching actor who is as talented as he is troubled.

  Mickey, thanks for the memories and all the great moments still to come.

  Sandro Monetti

  Beverly Hills, California, Summer 2010

  1

  THE NIGHTMARE YEARS

  Desperate, broken down, and battered by setbacks, Mickey Rourke slumped to his knees in a New York church and prayed to a wooden sculpture of St Jude for the strength to stop himself doing what he was about to do.

  He had come to 42nd Street’s Church of the Holy Cross one damp, dreadful day in the mi
d-1990s feeling at his lowest ebb and looking for guidance from, appropriately, the patron saint of lost causes. Now, with his acting career all washed up, his money gone, and his wife, Carré Otis, walking out on him, Mickey was tormented by both suicidal and murderous thoughts.

  He had a pistol in his pocket and a revenge plan in mind to do some serious harm to a man he says attacked his estranged wife. And, after that, he’d maybe turn the gun on himself.

  The pain in his head felt unbearable as he reflected on the mess his life had become and how he had driven away the beautiful woman he loved so much. From his other pocket Mickey took a handwritten letter of apology he had written to Carré. Reading the sad note over and over again, he wondered if these would be the last words he would ever write.

  Then he suddenly felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked into the kindly eyes of the parish priest. Father Peter Colapietro was used to seeing despairing downand-outs show up at the rundown, red-brick church. On this occasion, though, he immediately recognized this tormented soul as the fallen movie star who a decade earlier had been one of Hollywood’s biggest names, thanks to films like 9½ Weeks, Rumble Fish, and one that the priest had seen fifteen times, Angel Heart.

  Father Peter had Mickey tell him his troubles and then got him to hand over the gun after asking: “Where in the Bible does it say, ‘Vengeance is mine, says Mickey Rourke?’” They lit a candle together and the priest assured the actor, long a man of faith, that God would give him the strength he needed. Father Peter watched Mickey fold and carefully place the note to Carré behind St. Jude’s statue and then led him to the rectory where he started a conversation with the desolate star, gently asking what had led him to such a dark place in his life.

  It was a story that started only a few miles away across New York, but left a legacy of pain that has stayed with Mickey forever.

  * * *

  Mickey Rourke has not had a birthday party since he was six. That was the year his parents split up, and he has not felt like celebrating since then. He has described his upbringing as “unusual, crazy and violent” and says if he had the choice of living his childhood all over again, he would rather not have been born.

  Life was a struggle from the start for Philip Andre Rourke Jr. who, just like his character in The Wrestler, Robin Robinson, avoids using his given name. He came to be known as Mickey due to a combination of his family’s Irish ancestry (the ancestors came from Cork) and his father being a huge fan of baseball star Mickey Mantle.

  Mickey Rourke was born in Schenectady, New York, on 16 September 1956 according to his official biography, although other sources, including police arrest records and school files in Miami, state he entered the world in 1952. Many actors shave a few years off their age to avoid being considered too old for certain roles, but Mickey may have confused a few other biographical details, too, more of which later.

  His earliest memories were of constant rows between his mother Ann, a housewife and sometime nurse, and his father, Philip Sr., an imposing figure, an amateur bodybuilder who had held the Mr. New York title. Working as a carpenter, groundskeeper, and janitor at the local golf club, his father spent his free time either lifting weights or lifting a beer glass.

  Mickey was closer to his dad and loved how big and strong he was. He loved touching his father on the upper arm as a signal to Phil, who would delight the boy by immediately then flexing his muscle. The young Mickey was a funny looking kid with big protruding ears and his appearance gave no hint that he would grow up to become a heart-throb movie star. Those ears seemed forever to be picking up the painful sound of his parents’ conflict.

  Phil and Ann would have many loud and violent arguments and their bust-ups often got too much for young Mickey, who would run downstairs and take sanctuary in the basement apartment of his maternal grandmother. He frequently sat on the faded couch in front of her TV set, watching his favorite show, The Little Rascals, with a plate of homemade cookies at his side, trying to shut the anger upstairs out of his mind.

  Things eventually reached a breaking point in the marriage, with his mother and grandmother moving out and taking Mickey, his younger brother Joey, and little sister Patti with them to start a new life in Miami. The children were initially told they were just going on a sunshine vacation and their father would join them in Florida in due course.

  But the night before Ann left home, Phil took Mickey aside and told him he would never be coming home because his mother was splitting up the family. The boy felt furious, let down, confused, and resentful. Unable then to grasp the complexities of adult relationships, he was extremely unhappy with his mother for taking him away. He didn’t want to go but had no choice, and his mood wasn’t helped when he found himself moving from motel to motel after their arrival in Miami.

  His mother eventually took over a Laundromat there and the family lived in the back rooms. Mickey started at a new school nearby but had no interest in lessons and spent his time daydreaming rather than studying. He missed his dad and often kept with him an old black-and-white photograph of Phil in a bodybuilding pose – both arms raised and muscles pumped. It was the only glimpse of his father he would have for two decades.

  As if the new surroundings weren’t unsettling enough, just a year after the big move his now divorced mother got married again, to a widowed police detective named Gene Addis, who provided Mickey with five older stepbrothers. But Mickey didn’t want anyone taking his father’s place. “A year…a year!” he would say incredulously. He is ashamed to say that he gradually came to call Gene “Daddy,” but theirs wasn’t a happy relationship.

  When he was eight years old, his class mates were all making Valentine cards to take home to their parents and Mickey got so upset that his teacher eventually told him he didn’t have to write “To Dad” on his.

  The joining of the Addis and Rourke clans sounded like the set-up in the classic TV sitcom The Brady Bunch. But the way Mickey remembers life back then, it was more like living in the Manson family. Gene was strict with him, Joey, and Patti, just as he was with his own children. But Mickey hated his tough guy ways. He quickly came to loathe his stepfather and has claimed on several occasions that he was bullied and beaten by the man he calls “the violent cop who screwed me up.”

  Mickey has often been close to tears when relating tales of the abuse he claims he suffered at Gene’s hands, saying in various interviews it was like Halloween 3 and that he was the victim of “nightmarish atrocities.” But he refuses to say exactly what abuse he suffered – except that it wasn’t sexual – and insists he will share that private information only with the therapist who has been helping him come to terms with his past.

  Hitting children to keep them in line was a lot more common back then, in the 1960s, than it is in these politically correct times, but Gene Addis, who is now eighty-two, still living in Miami, and divorced from Mickey’s mother, insists he was never abusive, just a strict disciplinarian. He says Mickey has exaggerated his past but he loves him, always has, and wishes he would get back in touch. But Mickey has had nothing to do with him for years and has no plans to change that state of affairs.

  Mickey is also estranged from his mother, who now has Alzheimer’s disease and lives in a nursing home. He could never get over how Ann would turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to his complaints about the bad treatment he was receiving from her new husband. The star cut off communication with her for a long time after he first started making money in movies and she requested that he buys her a $150,000 house. They ceased talking for good after the death of his brother Joey, who had also resented her for breaking up the family.

  While his brother, who fixed motorbikes, and sister, who became a beautician, would remain in Mickey’s life, that wasn’t the case with his stepbrothers. He never felt close to them. As kids, the boys would sleep in the same room in triple-decker bunk beds, and whenever Mickey fell out of his top bunk, which happened a few times, his stepbrothers would laugh at him.

&nbs
p; Their tastes were completely different, too. His stepbrothers absolutely loved wrestling and would go and watch the sport all the time. But Mickey had a terrible disdain for it and wouldn’t change his mind about the sport until he starred in The Wrestler four decades later.

  Brother Joey and sister Patti seemed to adapt better to the new environment than Mickey did. He craved the love and support of his mother but resented the way she was sharing her time and attention with her new husband and stepchildren. His grandmother was always there with a comforting arm around his shoulder or a loving smile but, apart from that, the youngster felt largely lost and bewildered. He would rather have lived in a prison than in that house.

  So Mickey simply retreated and lived in his head. He felt he was living in a family that was beyond dysfunctional and remembers walking along the street one day thinking, “What am I doing living with these weird people?”

  The frustration finally poured out of him when he had his first fistfight at the age of ten. In the school playground a boy came over and started kicking him. Mickey, a quiet and submissive child up until that point, suddenly snapped and started raining blows on his tormentor, giving him a severe beating. He might not have been able to strike back at home, but he decided from then on to wage war on anybody who picked on him elsewhere.

  Depressed by his home life and feeling out of place at school, where he generally got D and F grades and excelled only in physed, the youngster took to spending time on the streets. These were bleak times, which he refers to in interviews as “my nightmare years.” Searching for the feeling of belonging he failed to find at home, young Mickey took to hanging out with a gang of hard-up local kids, started dressing the way they did, and became part of their street urchin, petty criminal lifestyle. Like his new pals, he developed a defiance of authority and a total inability to conform, which meant he was always getting into trouble, especially with the teachers at school. He got into lots of fights and once took revenge on five young thugs who had beaten up his brother Joey by hunting each of them down separately and giving them a battering in return. Mickey would continue to be protective of Joey for many years, always paying his medical bills and getting him the best treatment as his little brother fought a long battle against cancer.