Mickey Rourke as Genghis Khan?
Orlando Film Production — posted by otownrog on April, 22 2010 10:09 AM
Mickey Rourke Whiplash Iron Man 2 movie imageHe was on a break from filming the sword-and-sorcery epic Immortals in Montreal, “Yeah, that’s what they’re calling it now (It was called War of Gods, or War of the Gods),” but Mickey Rourke keeps calling it “Disciples” for some reason.
As packed as his dance-card is these days, you can’t blame the guy for mixing that up.
After The Wrestler, the culmination of a comeback he traces to Robert Rodriguez, who cast him in Once Upon a Time in Mexico and then Sin City, Rourke is more in-demand than he’s ever been, in spite of the fact that “you can’t erase a reputation from 20 years of raising hell overnight.”
He’s in Iron Man 2, which is what we’d been talking about (more on that later). But I wanted to go through the speculative list of projects with his name attached to them on IMDb.
St. Vincent, a re-teaming with his Johnny Handsome director, the great Walter Hill?
“Not gonna happen.”
The Tony Scott remake of the German crime film Potsdamer Platz?
“Yeah, we’re doing that. Talking to Tony about a Hell’s Angels movie, too. I’ve been working on a motorcycle gangs script for 20 years, so I hope that happens.”
genghis-khan-bustBut the most intriguing project on his plate and the one he shows the most enthusiasm for is Genghis Khan,to be written and directed by John Milius.
“I read his script and you know, the man is known for his tough writing. He wrote Conan and Dirty Harry and Apocalypse Now, and it’ll be interesting to see how he works behind the camera.
I’m playing Genghis.
“John wrote as a piece told from the son and grandson’s point of view, how they saw this mythic figure from their family. You see him in flashbacks, back when he was in his mid-40s. And back then, being in your mid-40s was being REALLY old.”
At 57, is Rourke ready to saddle up as the legendary conqueror?
“I rode quite a bit, back in the day. The horseback riding won’t be too much of a problem. I probably ride a horse better than I drive a car. There’s going to be some archery from horseback called for that I have to do, so that’ll be interesting, physically. I’ve got some very good stunt people that I work with almost exclusively. Garrett Warren and Mark Colburn will be with me.
“It’ll be a fascinating experience, maybe shooting in parts of India, they tell me, and China. I’ve never worked in either of those countries, so that’ll be new.
“Historically, if you read about the guy, he was a mystery. There’s a lot of myths surrounding him, but also some true stories. Milius went through that in prepping this, so he’ll be a fascinating character to play.”
As everybody learned last year during awards season, Mickey Rourke loves his dogs — chihuahuas, mostly. And he found something in common with the Mighty Khan in that regard.
“One of the things I like about Genghis Khan was his love of dogs. The Mongols used dogs in battle, and dogs rarely made it out of the battle. But in one instance, in this script, he orders his men – ‘Hold the dogs back.’ He was looking out for the dogs. I like that.”
Genghis Khan isn’t showing up on the Milius page on IMDb, with his Korean War epic Chosin Few seemingly further along. But then, the Internet Movie Database had a few titles wrong on the Mickey Rourke comeback trail, so we’ll see.
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