HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

Have you seen Mickey Rourke acting in ‘The Wrestler’ yet?

Are you familiar with the rest of his film acting resume??

If you don’t know his name, it may be because he was ‘outa the game’ for awhile. But…when he was ‘in it‘, he floored everybody. Came out of nowhere, into the spotlight with two little movie scenes; and then consistently gave the rawest, yet right on, performances.

This year, for “The Wrestler“, his acting performance may get the “Best Actor” Academy Award.

I hope so. (If you’ve been following this Hollywood Actor Prep Blog, then you know I respect Mickey Rourke, as an actor. I think he is an fine film actor, with consistent depth.)

His acting ability, talent, and skills, are rare…  Authentic, to the highest degree.

Here is an older interview with Rourke, where he discusses some film-acting experiences; in each, of the earlier films he was in.

Other things Mickey Rourke candidly discusses are:

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  • How he got his first movie role
    
  • Auditioning and getting into the Actors Studio
  • Performing at the Actors Studio in front of Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel (with little prior experience!)
    
  • Working with Francis Ford Coppola, on a movie with no script (!) called “Rumblefish” where he created the mythical character “Motorcycle Boy”
    
  • Creating a film script, by improvisation (!) while being assisted, musically, by Stuart Copeland of ‘The Police’.
    
  • The directors on his acting resume who “pushed him to the limit” and who he wound up respecting…
    
  • Which directors were perfectionists, and why he liked that; which directors were unlikable, and what it was that made them that way
    
  • And which ones had unusual ways of motivating the actors…

All of the actors, the directors, that you hear about here… are probably familiar names to you.
You probably, also,  heard of most of the movies that he talks about; because many well-known films reside on Mickey Rourke’s acting resume.

Enjoy!

If you would like to view film scenes from some of these movies that Mickey Rourke mentions here, you can find them at this post on the Hollywood Actor Prep Blog.  (‘Time For The Acting Of Mickey Rourke’)

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Are Actors Clueless About SAG and the Strike?

What’d I tell ya, huh?  The biggest problem with professional union actors ever having a hope-in-hell of getting paid for “New Media” is that practically no one has a clue about what it’s all about!

Many actors don’t know. Or can’t digest all the abstractions and complexities… (Abstractions: future media, tech, business forecasts…Complexities: business, legalities, details…)

Dennis Hopper Gives A Good Try…

…Here, in this interview I found on “Fancast”:

Dennis Hopper had some choice words for reporters regarding the possibility of a Screen Actor’s Guild strike during today’s promotional panel for the new series Crash on the Starz network, even joking about his buddy Jack Nicholson, whom he shared the screen with in the iconic film, Easy Rider.

“I don’t wanna go between Jack Nicholson and Tom Hanks,” He joked “But I guess I’d have to side with Jack. Out of the 120,000 in SAG there’s 7,000 people that make their living primarily acting and the others have other jobs. Generally if it comes to strikes they do it because they want more benefits, which isn’t necessarily great for the industry. I hope it doesn’t come to a strike. I hope we don’t go out and strike, but beyond that I have no knowledge.”

Are Actors Asking For More “Benefits”?!…Enter Don Cheadle…

Don Cheadle, who is the co-executive producer of the new series, chimed in, saying “We sort of gave away the farm at the last writers strike. These residuals, they’re our lifeblood, I’m lucky because I work pretty consistently, but a lot of people work month to month and I hope we can come to some agreement without coming to a strike. And its not just writers who take the hit, its caterers, cleaners, restaurants too.”

 

Feet Firmly Planted In Both Camps

Hollywood-speak, and everyman-speak.

Caring for both sides, and caring for all sides.

Encompassing all, and saying nothing.

Then, of course, there’s the what-the-heck-are-they-talking-about element, overall. 

(…That is, btw, our native form of communication: “Los Ang-evasive”…)

Don Cheadle, Executive Producer

I have to give some cred to Don Cheadle.  Not only is he a solid, and fine, actor; but in this situation, he is also an exec-producer…That makes him, well, split down the middle:  he’s an actor, so he’s SAG, and a producer, so he’s then AMPTP.   (In case you’re “new”, those are the two union opponents, in the SAG Actors struggle.)

I think he does a very diplomatic job, and on the fly! 

I think he shows some empathy, too; but, he sprinkles it around so liberally,  it diffuses the intent.

Actors With Two Different Styles

Yet, they both elicit the same response…

One…big…

—-”HUH??”—-

(…Just like the rest of the world, about the SAG Strike…but again, I preach, please be informed! SAG link…)