The Movie Blog

Only the Shadow Knows - Rourke vs Penn?

By Rodney - December 30, 2008 - 09:17 America/Montreal

Hollywood is all about double talk and lies until its on paper, so to hear one celebrity speaking out against another is hardly news. But when two Oscar/Globe contenders are out there, and one of them makes some pretty bold statments about the other’s character its going to hit the fan.

So when we hear that Mickey Rourke is apparently talking down about Sean Penn’s performance in Milk, we start to wonder why.

But wait! Is he?

Hollywood Elsewhere says:

Daily Beast contributor Gerald Posner reported today that yesterday (12.28) “a Los Angeles entertainment honcho shared a text message with [him] that Mickey Rourke had sent him about Sean Penn: ‘Look seans an old friend of mine [but] i didnt buy his performance at all — thought he did an average pretend acting like he was gay besides hes one of the most homophobic people i kno’”

Perhaps someone thought that this sort of smear campaign would work like a presidential election. Instead of focusing on how good you are, fling mud at the opposition.

Interestingly enough, I am not even sure that Mickey Rourke is the one saying these things. So while there seems to be some bubbling in the water, we don’t know who its coming from or to what end. Is someone trying to shittalk Penn, using Rourke (his rival to the award) to do it? Or are they trying to make Rourke look like an ass?

The conflict comes in that Gerald Posner is respected among his peers for his investigative reporting, however throws this line out with the credibility of a tabloid rag. His only sources are “an LA entertainment Honcho” and rumours of a passing statement said backstage on Letterman. I like that Jeff at Hollywood Elsewhere notes this pair of vague unconfirmable sources suddenly turned into “several” when his sources were challenged.

I have heard celebrities comment about others. A couple of years ago When John mentioned Milo Ventimiglia in front of Johnathan Frakes, Frakes admitted he was a fan. That happened. John and I both standing there face to face with Frakes. Can I confirm it? Nope. Happened in passing. So its not a valid source.

Its not like this was said in an interview. There is no proof any of this was said at all. Someone unidentified allegedly showed a text message allegedly from Rourke But someone somewhere is trying to start something here. I bring it up to address the validity of the statements. Some sites are all ready to hang Rourke by these statements that no one can confirm were even said by him.

So is Rourke talking trash? If he is, who do you think it hurts more?

Without assuming Rourke or Penn as the winner, if it is a tight race to the finish, would something like this sway judges? I think it should still be about the performance. So what does anyone have to gain inventing this. It would be a different topic altogether if Rourke was on Letterman, on the air saying he didnt think Penn was his competition, or shouldn’t even be considered. But he didn’t.