Mickey Rourke may be on the verge of a great comeback, but it almost sounds like he’s mixing up the art and the artist, and possibly going back down the road that got him into so much trouble to begin with. The star who is receiving so much acclaim for his role in The Wrestler is looking at climbing into the ring for real at the upcoming Wrestlemania 25.
Celebrity appearances aren’t a new thing to Wrestlemania. I can still remember Mr. T crossing over as part of the first Wrestlemania. Since then celebs have included other fighters like Mike Tyson and even gone as absurd as to involve non-fighting competition with Donald Trump. An appearance by Rourke would certainly make sense, considering the subject matter of his film.
I can’t help but wonder if this really is that good of an idea, however. Leaving acting for boxing is what led Rourke down the path that took him away from Hollywood. Doing a similar thing now, even as a publicity stunt (which is more for Rourke than for his movie), just has a bad vibe to it. Besides, wrestling isn’t Rourke’s game. The actor has already underwhelmed wrestling fan and writer Kevin Eck, who wrote in his Baltimore Sun blog that the conflict between Rourke and wrestler Chris Jericho is off to a weak start, with little tension between the two in a recent Larry King Live face-off.
I guess we’ll see how this plays out over the next few weeks. I’d rather see Rourke focus on his return to Hollywood than capitalizing on his first serious role back; take advantage of his Oscar buzz and land new roles instead of surrounding himself in the world of this singe role.
UPDATE: Mickey Rourke's publicist has released a statement indicating that he will not participate in Wrestlemania. Either this was a stunt he never meant to follow through on all along, or someone got to him and talked him out of it.
