There was a time when Mickey Rourke was considered to be the greatest aspiring acting talent since Marlon Brando . But after a string of questionable personal/professional decisions, Rourke began to fade into the ether.
The former Oscar-nominee recently gave an interview with Piers Morgan , wherein he let his feelings for action star Tom Cruise be known. According to Mickey, Tom isn’t just bad — he’s irrelevant .
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Tom Cruise is a lot of things to many different people.
For some, he’s the Oscar-nominated actor behind such iconic films as Jerry Maguire and Born on the 4th of July . To others, he’s a trained pilot, a race car driver, as well as the star of Top Gun: Maverick — the top-grossing movie of 2022.
On top of being a phenomenal actor, Tom may just be the greatest action hero of all time.
Over the course of his career, Tom has scaled mountains, he’s jumped across buildings — and he even held onto the side of an airplane as it was taking off!
Yet in spite of the decades’ worth of top-grossing films, there are still those who question Tom’s iconic status in Hollywood.
Mainly, his colleague/former acting virtuoso, Mickey Rourke. In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Mickey got candid and let his thoughts on Tom Cruise be known.
During the interview, Piers asked Mickey what his thoughts were after seeing that ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ had grossed $1 billion.
“That doesn’t mean [expletive] to me,” Mickey replied bluntly. “The guy’s been doing the same eff-ing part for 35 years.”
“I got no respect for that,” Mickey said.
“I don’t care about money and power,” Rourke explained. “I care about; when I watch Al Pacino work and Chris Walken, and De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris’ work, and Ray Winstone’s work — that’s the kind of actor I want to be like.”
Rourke went on to talk about how truly great actors attempt to stretch themselves into something more.
“You don’t think Tom Cruise is a good actor?” Morgan asked.
” I think he’s irrelevant , in my world,” came Mickey’s unfettered reply.
Irrelevant is an ironic choice of words, considering that Mickey’s last starring role was ‘The Wrestler’ in 2008.
Mickey portrayed the once-great professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson in the film, and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for “Best Actor.”
Prior to that, Mickey had all but abandoned his acting aspirations in the hope of becoming a professional boxer.
Rourke’s status as an amateur boxer began when he was only 12 years old. From 12 to 25, he racked up an impressive record consisting of 27 wins with only 3 defeats .
In the early ’90s, Mickey also inexplicably turned down a number of career-defining roles.
Mickey was supposedly offered the role of Butch the prizefighter in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction . He also said no to starring in Beverly Hills Cop , as well as a major role in Top Gun.
Mickey’s comments have left many moviegoing fans scratching their heads.
“Mickley Rourke net worth $10m, Tom Cruise net worth $600m,” user @jambusher tweeted out. “I’d say Cruise is more relevant than Rourke will ever be and that bothers him.”
Others were quick to suggest that Rourke’s comments came across as sour grapes.
Back in the ’80s, Mickey Rourke was hailed as the second coming of Marlon Brando. What followed was one of the worst falls from grace the entertainment world has ever seen. Tom Cruise may not be Marlon Brando, but he’s also the furthest thing from irrelevant.
