Time for some classic Mickey Rourke! I’ve been looking forward to reading any interview with him during the Iron Man 2 promotional tour, just because he’s such a great interview. By the way, these are photos of Mickey walking two of his puppies last weekend. What’s with the belly-shirt, Mickey? No, I jest. If the man wants to wear a belly shirt, God bless. Now, on to the interview – Mickey sat down for a short piece with Parade, and he actually says my favorite quote of the week: “I’d just as soon do a big-budget movie as an independent one. Sometimes the independent movies can get a little too arty-farty. You watch the IFC Channel and you want to throw up.” THANK YOU. Someone needed to say it. Not every independent film is great, and sometimes I just think “No studio would touch this script for a reason – because this sh-t blows.” Here’s more from Mickey:

Mickey Rourke has gone from the bottom to the top, scoring an Oscar nomination for his comeback role in the tiny-budgeted The Wrestler. Now, he’s got a juicy role in the summer blockbuster Iron Man 2. So does that mean that the fiercely outspoken actor who once quit his failing showbiz career to become a boxer has mellowed out? You be the judge.

Mickey says, “I’d just as soon do a big-budget movie as an independent one. Sometimes the independent movies can get a little too arty-farty. You watch the IFC Channel and you want to throw up. You don’t always have to take things so serious, you know. It’s like, this is a nice departure for people to just forget about all their s—.”

No wonder he didn’t feel guilty about accepting a few perks.
“I’d just come off working on The Wrestler, which had no budget and I didn’t even have a chair to sit in. I remember the first day on Iron Man 2 I said, ‘Can I have a cappuccino,’ and they said, ‘Which kind would you like?'”

Star is just a four-letter word.
“You can be less than mediocre and be a f—ing movie star. I have respect for very few actors and actresses. Some of them get a lot of acclaim but just because their movie made $200 million at the box office; they still suck. I got no respect for them and I used to let them know it. It was important for me to put that aside and go, ‘You know what? This is a business. If you kiss the right ass and you get lucky on a movie or two, you could last 10 years.’ So, now, I just keep my mouth shut and pet my chihuahuas.”

[From Parade]

I wonder who he’s talking about? Hm…? Probably all of them, you know? I was going to name-check people like Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts, but Mickey probably hates the overwhelming majority of Hollywood, and that’s a long list.

Someone he wasn’t referring to, however, was his Passion Play costar Megan Fox. Mickey also spoke to Extra recently, and he told them how much he enjoyed working with Megan: “I just worked on a smaller movie with Megan Fox. Creatively, it was a lot of fun. She was great to work with — and to look at. It was nice working with someone who has a reputation for being beautiful, but who really did her homework. She was challenging to work with. People are going to have a different perception of her.” She was “challenging”? As in, it was a “challenge” to get her to shut up about her “schizophrenia”? Or was it a challenge to get her into bed? Hm?

Mickey Rourke in NYC on May 1, 2010. Mickey at the ‘Iron Man 2’ premiere in LA on April 26, 2010. Credit: Bauer-Griffin.