Mickey Rourke bows Whiplash in Iron Man 2

After years in the Hollywood wilderness, Mickey Rourke’s career is now well on a roll.

Having landed a BAFTA for last year’s, ‘The Wrestler,’ the 55-year old New York native is now on a mission to kill Robert Downey Jr., as the fearsome ‘Whiplash,’ in Iron Man 2.

Mickey’s character is a Russian assassin, and never one to shirk challenge Mickey’s learning the jargon, “It’s hard because the Russian language doesn’t roll off the tongue very easily.” he explains. “After three hours a day with a teacher for two weeks, I know four sentences.’

But his new language skills probably made for a fun evening after the former pro-boxer and chihuahua fan was recently spied smooching 24-year old Russian model Eugenia Volodina at an NYC club.

Back at the movies, Iron Man’s director John Favreau is being coy about Mickey’s new role. Wiplash wears a pack, just like Tony Stark’s alter ego, but as to its purpose, Favreau won’t explain. ‘The technologies are definitely related. That’s part of the theme of the film.’ is his furtive response…This man is a professional-grade tease.

What is known is that Mickey landed the role after Favreau recovered from seeing his Oscar-tapped tour-de-force in ‘The Wrestler’ ‘It was very important that Iron Man’s villain be as compelling as can be,” he explained to reporters. “And once I thought of Mickey in that role, I understood how to shape the story.’

Rourke will share lens-time with the superb Gwyneth Paltrow, who relocated from London — with both her kids — to be sure she could once more portray Tony’s indispensable aid, ‘Pepper’ Potts. Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson joined them to start filming at Edwards Air Force Base in mid-April, and the results are due out on May 7th next year.

Source: Daily Telegraph