FILM I MASCULINITY
Mickey Rourke — The Human Being in a Monster’s Body
The peculiar victory of self-destruction in Hollywood
Nowadays, Mickey Rourke resembles an old, beaten-up pit bull. He’s ragged, physically deformed, but still standing. Come boxing, alcohol and drug abuse, mental demons, and more than a decade of loneliness, nothing could knock out the once sexiest actor on the planet.
But, to get to the level of self-knowledge Rourke has at 68 years old, you have to be willing to change. You have to forget all about the tough-guy crap, toxic masculinity, and macho swagger that rule your mind. You need to open yourself up and be vulnerable — ultimately, that’s what saved Mickey. He had to walk through living hell and come out the other side with a heart that still beats.
Rourke’s journey in Hollywood has been a long one. He’s gone from a nobody to one of the biggest names in Hollywood, then back to a nobody. He’s an employable actor today, but nowhere near as big he once was. He’s gone through a path of physical, mental, and emotional transformation that is rueful and hardly survivable. If it doesn’t kill you, it’ll leave a mark you’ll carry for the rest of your life.
In Hollywood, no one would survive that but Mickey Rourke.
