Leave it to Mickey Rourke to be Mickey Rourke. The actor is no stranger to speaking his mind, and the latest display of his personal opinion involves Tom Cruise, who is currently riding high on the success of Top Gun: Maverick. I don’t think we can call Rourke a fan of Tom Cruise because he’s calling one of the world’s most successful movie stars irrelevant.
Rourke recently appeared on Piers Uncensored, and the actor had some pretty strong words about Tom Cruise. He doesn’t seem all that impressed about Cruise’s ability to continue to bring in crowds at the box office because, as he puts it, Cruise has been playing the “same effing part for 35 years.” You can check out his full quote below.
That doesn’t mean s–t to me. The guy’s been doing the same effing part for 35 years. I got no respect for that. I don’t care about money and power. I care about, when I watch Al Pacino work, and Chris Walken and De Niro’s early work. Richard Harris’ work, Ray Winstone’s work. Monty Clift. Brando back in the day. And a lot of guys that just tried to stretch as actors. … I think [Cruise] is irrelevant in my world.
Rourke and Cruise came up around the same time in the industry, but the former became known for being more edgy and controversial while the latter became instantly more commercial and bankable. Rourke became known for his alleged on-set behavior and off-screen lifestyle, while Cruise established himself as a worldwide box office movie star. That’s not to say that Rourke was completely derailed by some of the controversies that followed him. In the 2000s, the actor saw a bit of a resurgence with the release of Sin City and for his Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler. This led to more commercial roles in films like Iron Man 2, but that has never stopped him from calling it as he sees it. In recent years, Rourke has been doing more direct-to-video efforts, so some of his criticism of Cruise comes off as jealous shade.
We can say what we want about Tom Cruise, but he has more than proven his worth. I sometimes wish he’d focus less on action roles and go back to character-driven material, but there’s no denying he goes above and beyond to entertain the audience. He has also proven that he can stretch himself. Just look at films like Born on the Fourth of July, Interview With the Vampire, Magnolia, or Collateral. He hasn’t been playing the same role for 35 years. It’s just that in more recent years, he has focused on more commercial fare, but with a filmography like Tom Cruise’s, I think he’s allowed to do whatever roles make him happy at the moment.
Do YOU agree with Mickey Rourke’s assessment of Tom Cruise?