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Mickey Rourke: By his own admission, not interested in power and money
Photo: Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
Former professional boxer and actor Mickey Rourke (»Rumble Fish«, »Angel Heart«) is known for not being particularly squeamish.
In an interview with the talk format "Piers Morgan Uncensored", he has now dealt against Tom Cruise, whose most recent strip "Top Gun: Maverick" grossed over a billion US dollars.
A remarkable box office success.
But Rourke was not impressed.
"I don't give a fuck," he said.
"The guy has been doing the same thing for 35 years, that doesn't command any respect from me." He doesn't care about money or power.
Rourke admires actors like Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Robert De Niro and Richard Harris.
These are actors he emulates, "like Monty Clift and (Marlon) Brando back then.
Guys who were just trying to grow as actors."
Cruise can only be one thing in his world: »irrelevant«.
Presenter Piers Morgan listened happily, but briefly interrupted his guest to point out that swear words were not welcome on his show.
Rourke showed understanding and tried his best.
The actor said frankly that he also used the time during the corona pandemic for a kind of self-exploration – he called it “searching for the soul”.
In the face of the "third chapter" of his life, he analyzed the mistakes of the first two chapters.
Rourke recalled that he experienced a lot of violence in his childhood.
He suffered a nefarious upbringing, which led him to leave home at the age of 14.
If you are mistreated, there are only two options: "Either you become a broken-hearted person or you become hard." He opted for the latter option and thereby caused a lot of suffering on his part.
“My therapist said I was a dangerous person.
But I've learned.” In the past, Rourke has also had contact with other dangerous people, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He invited him to St. Petersburg in 2014, where both visited a facility for children with cancer.
"That was heartbreaking," Rourke recalled.
"I saw Vladimir and I saw someone who was really concerned, someone who had empathy and was serious." He couldn't understand why this someone was killing children today with his war of aggression in Ukraine.
"It blows my mind, I don't understand what he wants."
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