Mickey Rourke Will be Playing British Gay Rugby player Gareth Thomas
- Mickey Rourke in Immortals
http://www.lfpress.com/
LOS ANGELES -- In his next role, Mickey Rourke will be playing for the other team.
Rourke, who scored an Oscar nomination for 2008's The Wrestler, intends to portray openly gay British rugby player Gareth Thomas in a new biopic.
"I've been writing the script for the last year and hopefully we'll do next March," Rourke says.
Thomas, who recently retired from the sport, revealed his sexuality publicly in 2009. The news made him the first male athlete in a professional team sport to come out while still competing.
When he heard about Thomas' story, Rourke immediately contacted him.
"I said, 'I want to make your life story.' I think I beat the studios by about four days ... He gave me the rights."
Rourke can currently be seen in Immortals, in which he stars as the villain Hyperion, a maniacal ruler hell-bent on overthrowing the Olympians and enslaving humanity.
The 59-year-old filmed the gods-and-monsters mash-up in Montreal while nursing a rugby-inspired injury.
"I had just come out of surgery. I had torn my bicep. I had just had bicep surgery and lost my whole tendon. I was worried about being able to tie my shoes. One of the reasons I wore a gauntlet (in the movie) is because I had a big scar."
How did he hurt himself? "I was arm-wrestling some rugby players in a bar in London at four in the morning and I lost. But we became good friends."
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