Pretty soon you’ll be able to fill a clubhouse with the people that Marvel has passed over or traded away in the pursuit of cost-cutting. Not long ago we heard that Marvel was seriously lowballing Mickey Rourke for his role in Iron Man 2. (Word on the offer was $250k for a lead villain role.)
Now Rourke has told NYMag’s Vulture that he’s not doing the film at all. “Right now, we’re not doing Iron Man 2,” he said. (I hope that’s a royal ‘we’.)
That’s pretty cut and dried, but also not final. Sunday could change things. Maybe. If Rourke wins the Best Actor Oscar, he gets a little leverage boost over and above what good word on The Wrestler earned. Does that change Marvel’s offer? Probably not, since having an Oscar winner on the bill doesn’t mean shit to the people who’ll put IM2 through the roof.
If he doesn’t…well, this is Mickey Rourke. Do you see him trotting back to Marvel to accept their quarter mil, and maybe asking for them to origami it into the shape of an award statue? No, I don’t either.