Monetti - The mickey rourke handbook

Based in Beverly Hills, British-born journalist Alessandro Sandro Monetti is one of the worlds most experienced and respected show business writers. He has covered the Hollywood scene for over twenty years making frequent TV appearances as a showbiz expert and giving Masters-level university lectures on how to interview celebrities. Monetti has worked as a media consultant for Sky TV , as showbiz correspondent for News of the World , and as a columnist for Smash Hits magazine. He now writes entertainment features for the Sunday Express and a gossip column for the Daily Star Sunday newspapers. Monetti provides celebrity reports for BBC radio stations and moderates Q&As with the stars at BAFTAs LA movie screenings. He has closely followed Mickey Rourkes roller-coaster career as both reporter and fan for the past 20 years.

TELEVISION ROLES

Golden Globe Best Actor (Drama) The Wrestler
BAFTA Film Award Best Actor The Wrestler
Independent Spirit Award Best Actor The Wrestler
Saturn Award Best Supporting Actor Sin City
National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor Diner
Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor The Wrestler

Rogue Warrior: Black Razor (2009)
Role: Richard Demo Dick Marcinko

True Crime: New York City (2005)
Role: Terry Higgins

Driv3r (2004)
Role: Jericho

Suntory, Lark and Daihatsu

John Rich (Shuttin Detroit Down) 2009
Enrique Iglesias (Hero) 2001

Music supervisor on the 1996 film Bullet

Provided the mid-song rap on the David Bowie song Shining Star (Makin My Love) which was on the 1987 Bowie album Never Let Me Down.

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 Streets Church of the Holy Cross one damp, dreadful day in the mid-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, Carr 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, hed 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 Carr. 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 down and-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 Hollywoods biggest names, thanks to films like 9 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 Carr behind St. Judes 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 familys 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.