Wow! I assumed this subject and character wasn't anywhere near
my "wheelhouse" but I happened to be flipping channels when the last half of "The Wrestler" caught my attention and wouldn't let me go. Mickey Rourke was brilliant. Of course I wept, but more than that, he made me fall in love with his character... I don't think it was romantic love, but the movie (and Mickey Rourke) had made me absolutely and heartbreakingly love this character and those feelings inhabited me for a couple of days.
I've thought actors/actresses themselves were charming, compelling, amazingly talented as they breathed life into well-written characters, but I really can't think of a time that the actual character of a film punched a whole in my heart so directly. And I hate that I can't figure out exactly how it happened!! I'll watch it again...no, I won't, 'cause then I'll break my heart and cry again... I'll pretend there's a sequel with a happy ending...
I met Mickey Rourke for a nano-second on the set of "Get Carter" -- he nodded hello and, completely uncharacteristically, I looked away. It wasn't so much that he was scary looking (though a little bit as he was certainly bigger than I'd ever seen him on film) but it was my first day on set as an extra ever and I was intimidated by such a successful actor (and we had been given strict instructions to not look at the "real" actors) -- after listening to this interview and what he was going through at the time, I have to laugh at the assumptions we make that keep us from simply connecting at times and wish I could go back and say "hello", and now I'd add "you're brilliant, please work more soon".
Wow! I assumed this subject and character wasn't anywhere near
my "wheelhouse" but I happened to be flipping channels when the last half of "The Wrestler" caught my attention and wouldn't let me go. Mickey Rourke was brilliant. Of course I wept, but more than that, he made me fall in love with his character... I don't think it was romantic love, but the movie (and Mickey Rourke) had made me absolutely and heartbreakingly love this character and those feelings inhabited me for a couple of days.
I've thought actors/actresses themselves were charming, compelling, amazingly talented as they breathed life into well-written characters, but I really can't think of a time that the actual character of a film punched a whole in my heart so directly. And I hate that I can't figure out exactly how it happened!! I'll watch it again...no, I won't, 'cause then I'll break my heart and cry again... I'll pretend there's a sequel with a happy ending...
I met Mickey Rourke for a nano-second on the set of "Get Carter" -- he nodded hello and, completely uncharacteristically, I looked away. It wasn't so much that he was scary looking (though a little bit as he was certainly bigger than I'd ever seen him on film) but it was my first day on set as an extra ever and I was intimidated by such a successful actor (and we had been given strict instructions to not look at the "real" actors) -- after listening to this interview and what he was going through at the time, I have to laugh at the assumptions we make that keep us from simply connecting at times and wish I could go back and say "hello", and now I'd add "you're brilliant, please work more soon".