It seems like a full six months since Mickey Rourke first acknowledged a desire to portray rugby player Gareth Thomas. The thirty-six year old Welshman is, according to most reports, the only openly gay professional team sport athlete playing in a topflight league. In many ways, he seems like a perfect biopic candidate, but for whatever reason, the Rourke-fronted biopic hasn’t gained any traction. Maybe it’s because Thomas is very much still alive and thriving on the rugby scene? Maybe it’s because rugby just isn’t popular enough in the United States? Then again, maybe the whole thing just hasn’t been given enough time.
According to Bleeding Cool, Rourke was on Alan Carr’s Chatty Man tonight, and the subject of Gareth Thomas came up. Mickey, apart from getting very agitated about Thomas always being referred to as a gay rugby player, seemed very excited about the project, even going so far as to say he’d learn Welsh for the role. We’ll see if it gets to that, but you have to respect the man’s devotion to the craft.
No word on when this might get going or even who could direct. We’ll keep you updated on any new developments.
