He could have been one of the best players of his generation: what did he really arrive at Mickey Rourke?

He was one of the beautiful kids of cinema in the 80s, but many ignore him, because his career has been at the lowest for years. Now 72, Mickey Rourke has done a lot of trouble, and his filmography carries the stigma. What did it really happen to this actor who we thought would be as striking for the cinema as Robert de Niro?

Mickey Beautiful Gueule

Universal Pictures

A amateur boxer in his youth, Mickey Rourke began his cinema career under the direction of Steven Spielberg in the 1941 war comedy (1979) and then continues two small roles in the Porte du Paradis (1980) and the fever in the body (1981). After a major role in Diner by Barry Levinson, he is spotted as a big brother of the character of Matt Dillon in Rusty James by Francis Ford Coppola and embodies the cousin of Eric Roberts in the Pope of Greenwich Village.

But it is truly the end of the 1980s that will devote it as a striking headliner. He is a private detective for Alan Parker (Angel Heart), the Irishman for Mike Hodges, Johnny Belle Gueule for Walter Hill and above all, the mysterious John of the erotic thriller 9 weeks 1/2, who icon. But vulnerable and worried At his beginnings, Rourke, as he climbed the ladder of fame, becomes mean, alcoholic and cocaine.

Boxing years, and decline

In 1991, Mickey Rourke, To escape his addictionsresumes boxing, this time as a professional. During his years of fighting, Rourke is several times injured (broken nose, torn tongue or plays crushed) and his face suffered during the 90s, several cosmetic surgery operations that changed part of his face.

While he boxes with his ailments, the 90s' decade of the actor is mainly made of stockings: an arrest for domestic violence (later abandoned), a delirious lifestyle and a most disappointing filmography. From Harley Davidson and the Santiags man, a thriller he accepts purely for financial reasons, it is the tumble. Only supernatives the idealist of Francis Ford Coppola (in which he plays a supporting role) and deadly sands with Willem Dafoe.

At that time, Mickey Rourke “hate himself” And refuses roles that could have revived it, such as that of Butch (Bruce Willis) in Pulp Fiction of Quentin Tarantino or that of Ringo (Michael Biehn) in Tombstone.

Morgan Creek Productions

In the early 2000s, few films supernative, including the animal thrillers Factory by Steve Buscemi or The Pledge by Sean Penn. It was not until 2005 that Rourke found a striking role, and it was Robert Rodriguez who entrusted it to him in his Sin City (2005), after having “tested” him in Il a time in Mexico … Desperado 2 (2003).

A rebirth … short -lived

Wild Bunch

Rourke still returns thanks to The Wrestler, a role that looks like him, that of a professional wrestler that life has rinsed. Darren Aronofsky gives the actor a credibility he had lost, and The Wrestler is hailed by criticism like the public, who salute his performance.

We then think his career relaunched, but apart from his role as bad in Iron Man 2 or his third role in Expendables, Mickey Rourke falls back into his Direct-to-Video Soul without soul, confidential films and a sequel that makes a flop (Sin City 2). At the time of these lines, the trend has unfortunately not reversed.