Mickey could have been a Hollywood contender!
Ooops!
Did Mickey Rourke just call some dude a pri**" on Network TV?
Judging by Jay's stunned silence, I'd have to reply in the affirmative.
OMG!
After sipping up a dash of pepsi a moment later, the gutteral sounds sprang forth once again.
Mickey uttered up the vulgar derogatory term (often used to describe the male anatomy in the ugliest of fashions) a second time - and in about two seconds flat - the segment descended rapidly into a realm normally presided over by a posse of white-trailer trash rough-necks.
The colorful interview started off innocently enough when Jay asked the street-wise actor (known to inhabit his roles with great gusto) if he ever worked odd-jobs before he became a recongized bankable star.
Mickey started off by admitting that it was tough-going in his younger days.
But, fortunately for the gritty character actor - he was blessed with this sort-of Uncle (wink wink) - who called him up with tasks to undertake now-and-then.
"I was in the money collection business, 'ya know?"
The audience roared!
Rourke then got a kick out of elaborately describing his first "job" - with so much candor and hilarious detail - that I was on the floor in stitches.
As the tawdry tale goes, a two-bit piece of hoodlum sh** allegedely owed his "Uncle" some cash.
So, eager beaver nephew (!) Mickey was hired on to pay the difficult dude a visit, 'ya know?
"I was kind-of a gangster," the likeable star chuckled to Jay who was bent out-of-shape forward on the desk all ears with ubiquitous chin jutting out.
"The guy was a real pri**," he growled.
Which caused a lot of tittering in the packed house on the NBC lot in Burbank.
Oh boy, THAT word again.
Mickey Rourke isn't a dude to mince words, after all.
"Well," he continued, "The tough guy was giving me a hard time, 'ya know?"
"The pri** didn't want to pay up, no Sir."
"When he started to play games with me, well, I snapped," he recalled in so many words.
So, I pulled out a gun, to scare the scoundrel a tad.
There was a distinctive "whoa" from the audience at this juncture as they edged forward in their seats in total disbelief anxious to learn of the outcome.
Was this a tall tale spun from Rourke's active imagination, or the real deal?
In a little scuffle that followed, the revolver went off by accident, Rourke excitedly recalled in his blow-by-blow account.
"Hold on, wait a second," the jerk-off belted out scared shit-less.
"I've got it," he barked out, as he reached for a wad of bills on the inside pocket of his jacket.
At this point, Rourke sat back in his chair, and chortled wickedly.
"When I went back to my Uncle with the cash, he thought I had done good."
Uh-huh.
So, the ballsy out-of-work struggling actor rose up in the ranks in his Uncle's favor, a keeper.
A short while later, Rourke was summoned to shake-down another dead-beat dude, who was allegedly a tougher piece of work that the first, to get through to.
"The basta** won't cough up the dough," his uncle snarled in so many words.
So, Mickey, trundled off to confront the guy, with ultimate aim of "collecting" pocketting some much-needed cash for himself for a job well-done.
"The little pri** didn't want to pay up," he confided to the audience.
But, there was a big problem.
When he turned up to collect, it turns out that the scammer was a dwarf about 4 1/2 feet tall with a hump on his back.
"Man, there was no way I could make that dude pay up. Even though I knew he was lyin' through his teeth, I couldn't hurt him."
Ah, an enforcer, with a heart.
"So, I lost my job, go figure!"
"It's so hard to move up in the corporate world," Jay quipped in response.
The talk turned to his new film, "The Expendables".
In the clip the actor shared with the rapt audience, Rourke looked pretty "bad ass" with his long greasy hair, slack-jaw, and riot of biker-inspired tattoos that appeared to be inked all over his buffed - but battered-looking - bod.
When quizzed about how he landed the plum role, Rourke hesitated a moment, then shyly noted that good pal - Sly Stone - offered it to him.
No horse's heads in Sly's bed?
"When we knocked heads about the project, he told me I could write what I wanted. I didn't have to read for it, or anything."
For the record, I should note that when Rourke first trotted onto Jay's jazzy stage, there was quite a bit of hoopla all 'round..
Avid fans hooted and hollered amidst a thunderous round of applause - which I expect was due the fact Rourke has neared Pop Culture status - because of a character he breathed his all into -no stops-barred - in Iron Man II.
But, at the couch, the interview was off to a bumpy start.
"What happened to your hair, man," Leno exclaimed, as he gave it a shocked once-over.
"Did 'ya cut it yourself?"
"Yeah," he gruffly barked back.
"I used to cut hair, but went a little overboard."
One side of his head was shaved so close in one spot, that bare skin was glancing through in a disturbing fashion.
And, 'round the rest of his noggin', the thick mop was cropped pretty close.
What an uneven, hideous mess!
And, his suit?
Hated it!
The icky pattern reminded me of wallpaper - and screamed of - Used Car salesman.
Rourke's stab at respectability with the mainstream movie-going audience perchance?
At the Iron Man II opening night celebrations his style was right on tap.
What happened, Mickey?
Iron Man II
Red Carpet Opening
Post: 05/08/10
http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-man-2bang-for-buck-rourke.html
Though, there were a few awkward moments into the gab fest at first, Jay - the comfortaable old shoe that he is - managed to soften up the tired worn leather nonetheless.
If ever there was a role model for what can go wrong with plastic surgery, Mr. Rourke gets first shake at the title, for sure.
The Interview?
Memorable, troubling, revealing.
Which way he's going in his personal life - up, down, sideways - is anyone's guess!
His career, well, it's going gangbusters!
Ironic, that!
