NEW YORK - Kaboom! With a fier-r-r-r-r-ce Suplex powerslam that left the mat shaking, the 46th Annual New York Film Festival ended with its closing night screening of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler leaving its audiences on a high note, and giving them a crystal ball's sneak peek at the Oscars.
Last night Mickey Rourke stepped out like a champ on the red carpet alongside glammed-up co-star Evan Rachel Wood; with the camera flashes also catching the dazzling Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber among others.
From Angelina turning it out at the Changeling to Benicio hanging with the Che crowd, NYFF's red carpet premieres have brought a sense of pre-awards season's excitement to a year where it's been hard to predict frontrunners. As well, events with lesser-known Oscar nom newbie hopefuls, actress Sally Hawkins and director Steve McQueen (Hunger), exposed audiences' eyes to new buzz talent for years to come.
And our prediction: several noms will emerge from the small, high-profile fest that often showcases career-changing works.
When the tallying is done, another anointed comeback kid of 2008 will be Mickey Rourke, the gifted, once baby-faced, now rugged-looking actor who shot to fame alongside Kim Basinger in the 1986 sexy, sadistic thriller, 9 1/2 Weeks.
Since then, like most actors closed-out of the A-list, it’s been a stretch of careers highs and lows, overlooked gems, facial changes, random red carpets--and the constant question of: when would Rourke return, as a lead, with such a powerful punch as when he truly 'landed' on the scene with unexpected impact and promise as an enigmatic '80s commodities power broker?
Ironically, in the wake of Wall Street being on rocky turf, Rourke’s latest role as 'The Ram', a greying wrestler on the ropes, is putting him on solid ground--squarely back in the spotlight; and pretty recently he didn’t even respect the very sport that’s pushing him back to the top.
“I have to admit that I didn’t have very much respect for this sport [wrestling], I was very not ashamed but I looked down on it coming from a sport [boxing] I was very proud of to be part of for most of my life.” Rourke admits at a recent New York Film Festival conference.
Meanwhile, it may be this very theatrical, renegade profession that could land Mickey Rourke an Oscar nomination this winter.
The Wrestler's Brooklynite director, Aronofsky, attests to Rourke’s truthful performance, “The wrestling promotions were with real fans and with all other real wrestlers. Everyone Mickey wrestled were real wrestlers, there were no stunt men. It was an attempt to create as much reality as possible.”
Hollywood loves to see a comeback kid step back in the action, with an intense performance. Rourke will definitely be on everyone's short-list as one-to-watch.
Perhaps his realness as 'The Ram' is due to Rourke finally having made peace with his role and the wrestling phenom along the way: "I realized that it’s something else, it’s okay to wrestle, it’s okay to make believe, it’s a form of entertainment."
Also, in other words, it's okay to be an actor...
CLICK HERE FOR THE WRESTLER MOVIE STILLS
CLICK HERE FOR RED CARPET PHOTOS: NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL THE WRESTLER PREMIERE
As NYFF wraps up, we applaud the line-up--which included the stellar works of several heavyweight foreign directors such as
American indie directors, representing the contemporary urban and rural spectrum in the spotlight.