The career of Mickey Rourke has been one of the more unfortunate self-inflicted catastrophes of recent cinema, but there are signs that some redemption may lie ahead. A few years after his remarkable turn as a mountainous slab of a noir hero in Sin City, Rourke has what is being billed as a still greater triumph as the lead in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and will be released by Fox Searchlight later this year. (A serious Oscar campaign for Rourke was reportedly crucial to the distribution deal.) There's no trailer available yet, but there's some footage attached to this interview:
Hard to get much sense of the film, but my curiosity is certainly piqued. And for those who'd like a reminder of what Mickey Rourke Mark One was capable of before the decades of self-destruction, here's his electric supporting turn from the better-than-you-remember Body Heat.
Update: Regular Plank readers will be astonished to discover that the direct link to my old Body Heat column doesn't work. Anyone interested can find it backed up somewhere in the ether by googling "Mickey Rourke" and "tectonic friction."
--Christopher Orr