In 2007 everyone was touting Eddie Murphy for an Oscar for his performance in Dreamgirls. He paid back the good wishes with Norbit and ended up not winning as Alan Arkin took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine sending Eddie home with nothing but the $95+ million Norbit made at the box-office. Hey, wait a minute, that’s a pretty good consolation prize if you ask me. Of course he had to sell his soul and make a movie that was roundly shunned, but you gotta do what you gotta do, just as the Wayans brothers.
Well, this year the talk of the town is Mickey Rourke, he’s no longer getting into trouble and he has a bonafide hit on his hands, at least in acting terms. Everyone has been praising his performance as Randy “The Ram” Robinson in The Wrestler and as of right now I would have to say he is the frontrunner to win the Oscar considering we are still waiting on so many films to actually screen. His competition currently falls in the hands of Sean Penn (Milk) and Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), but with names like Eastwood, DiCaprio and Pitt still looming in the blackness it would be premature to say Rourke has it in the bag, especially after his most recent outburst.
Already this year Tom O’Neil over at the Los Angeles Times asked whether or not Penn should be considered at all, citing his “smugness” and his “that the Academy Awards reward ‘manipulation and very good marketing’ and are bestowed by people who can’t ‘find their butt with their hand.’ Earlier this year he harrumphed, ‘The season of trophies is truly a season in hell.'” I wonder what O’Neil would think of Rourke’s most recent comment to paparazzis when asked whether he was dating, or had-dated, Wrestler co-star Evan Rachel Wood:
“She’s a good friend, that’s it. Tell that faggot who wrote all that shit in the paper I’d like to break his fucking legs.”
Considering Rourke had a gorgeous young female on his arm when he was asked, the question was rather stupid, but using a word like “faggot” is surely not going to win you any points with the prudish Academy. The worst thing about it all, it’s the last statement he makes on camera… If only he had entered that club 30 seconds sooner I wouldn’t have the following video to show you.
On a side note, I recently learned I will be seeing The Wrestler next week and none other than Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei are coming to town to talk to me! Well, not me only, but you get the point.
