How Mickey Rourke Missed Out On Two Major Quentin Tarantino Roles

Mickey Rourke is a brilliant actor, but he hasn't made it easy on himself — or others. He came charging out of the gate in the early 1980s as arsonist Teddy Lewis in Lawrence Kasdan's neo-noir "Body Heat" and hellraiser Boogie Sheftell in Barry Levinson's masterful "Diner." After standout performances in Francis Ford Coppola's "Rumble Fish" and Stuart Rosenberg's "The Pope of Greenwich Village," he seemed to be one role away from his first Academy Award nomination.

Though Rourke continued to turn in superb work for top directors, word got out around Hollywood that his behavior on set was getting unnervingly erratic. After directing him in 1987's "Angel Heart," Alan Parker said, "Working with Mickey is a nightmare. He is dangerous on set because you never know what he is going to do." Then, at the outset of the 1990s, he fell off the industry's A-list by giving lousy performances in atrocious films like "Wild Orchid" and "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man." He seemed washed up until 1997, when he delivered a fun turn in Tsui Hark's zany "Double Team" and reunited with Coppola for a supporting role in "The Rainmaker." Tony Scott began casting him with some frequency as well, and while he was not in a character actor groove, the work was at least interesting again, if not downright great.

If you're thinking Rourke is the kind of underrated veteran actor who would've been a prime candidate for a role in a Quentin Tarantino movie, well, he was. Twice. Once for the role of prize fighter Butch in "Pulp Fiction" (which went to Bruce Willis), and again for killer Stuntman Mike in "Death Proof" (eventually played by Kurt Russell). How did he miss out?

In a 2009 interview with The Daily Mail, Rourke revealed that he was Tarantino's first choice for Butch. He blew it, however, by letting his ego get the better of him. As he told the Mail, "I didn't even read the script. I allowed myself to get proud and angry because I could do the acting. I thought I'd have to be dead not to f***ing work.'" Willis wound up earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

That was the Rourke of 1993, who was making all kinds of bad decisions (which included dabbling in professional boxing). 13 years later, he'd been humbled enough that he understood the value of work, while also knowing that a whole slew of great directors revered him as an actor. So, when Tarantino came calling with the role of Stuntman Mike in "Death Proof," you'd think Rourke would've leapt at the opportunity. This time around, it was the actor's agents who kept him out of the picture.

In a 2021 interview with Joe Rogan, Tarantino explained, "My first choice was Mickey Rourke. It was going to be Mickey, and Mickey wanted to do it, but then his agents started ... well, his agents said, 'Well, they need Mickey.' And so the agents started f***ing with us."

By playing hardball, the agent cost Rourke the part. Per Tarantino:

"It was one of those things where Robert [Rodriguez] was doing his movie 'Planet Terror' first [for 'Grindhouse'], so I'm waiting to do mine when he's done. And the agent was f***ing around with us, and I was literally like, 'Here's one of the offers,' you have until nine o'clock Friday night to accept or reject, and they just let that deadline blow-by, and so, that was it."

If there's an upside here, it's that "Grindhouse" was a massive flop, and that, two years later, Rourke would finally land his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor as a struggling professional wrestler in "The Wrestler." (He was considered the favorite, but many people believe that his bad-boy past cost him the trophy.) Still, Tarantino and Rourke feel like such a great fit. Now that Tarantino has pledged that his next film will be his last, they've only got one more opportunity to hook up.