Mickey Rourke Cast In 'The Ice Man: Confessions Of A Mafia Contract Killer'

Mickey Rourke is no stranger to playing a bad ass killer. In fact, it's kind of his bread and butter. So it makes sense that the Oscar nominee been cast as Richard "The Ice Man" Kuklinski in The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, an adaptation of a book by Philip Carlo. Hit the jump for more details on the project.

According to Variety, the film will be financed by producer Matty Beckerman's Natural Selection company with David McKenna (American History X, Blow) writing the script. Kuklinski was an assassin for the New Jersey mafia for 40 years while also maintaining a life as a father and husband. Sounds like The Sopranos with a silencer.

Carlo's book was released in 2006 and was a New York Times bestseller. It tells the true story of man who, according to his Wikipedia page, admitted to killing over 250 people while working for crime families in Newark, NJ and New York City. He weighed around 300 lbs so a guy like Rourke seems, at least physically, to be an almost perfect choice.

"This is a role Mickey Rourke was born to play and, as a huge fan of David McKenna's work, I am thrilled to have him on board," producer Beckerman told Variety. The deal was announced at the Toronto Film Festival where Rourke is promoting the upcoming Passion Play.

Without spoiling anything about Kuklinski's story, just looking at some of the headlines from his bio make this movie seem very intriguing. Phrases such as "Gangster" and "State and Federal Manhunt" jump out for sure.

It's pretty obvious, though, that for a film like this to work the family angle will have to be played up. With his last few films, Iron Man 2 and The Expendables, Mickey Rourke seemed – to me at least – to be phoning it in. I think he's going to have to channel the man who starred in The Wrestler to make a role playe a sympathetic family man as well as cold blooded killer believable. Do you think he can pull it off?