Animal Factory

The current issue of Entertainment Weekly has a profile of Mickey Rourke and his performance in the upcoming film The Wrestler. I've really got to get it together to see this film as soon as it hits Atlanta. I even know where I am going to go: Midtown Art Cinema, where I can drink Red Stripe and put garlic cheese powder on my popcorn. I know it sounds gross, but salty flavored powders have always been a downfall of mine. Garlic salt is very popular at Casa de Courtney.

To the point! This article is a little bit fluffy (Rourke's arrest for spousal abuse doesn't report the whole "he shot his wife in the shoulder" thing), but the bones are good. And unlike some of the more recent work on Rourke that I have read, it mentions his return to doing good work in the early years of this century. My favorite that the article lists is Steve Buscemi's Animal Factory, in which Rourke plays an over the top prison diva sharing a cell with leading man Edward Furlong. He's only in a few scenes, but, like always, he steals them. This was Buscemi's directorial debut and it is sold. It also stars Willem Dafoe, who is actually not the creepiest part of this movie. That award goes to prison rapist Tom Arnold. Yep, that Tom Arnold.

Mickey really has been putting out some good work in the last 15 years, it has just been in incredibly small roles in small films. (Buffalo 66 anyone?) Sure, he has still been guilty of some direct to DVD movies, but enough younger filmmakers who remember him from the 1980s have been casting him in small, juicy roles to keep him honest. Thank God he's gotten a second chance. Maybe America will finally understand my obsession.

Thanks to Ted for the article!