Mickey Rourke Calls Tom Cruise 'Irrelevant' For Doing Same Thing For 35 Years And Has 'No Respect' For It

Jul 17, 2022 by apost team

If you were to bring up the name Mickey Rourke in casual conversation, you're more likely than not to be hit back with a cursory, "Who?". Mention Tom Cruise, however, and nobody would even so much as bat an eyelid.

This is because Cruise, apart from being one of the biggest Hollywood superstars of modern cinema, also stars in summer 2022's biggest hit "Top Gun: Maverick," the long-awaited sequel to his iconic 1986 movie.

Meanwhile, Rourke has fallen out of the limelight in recent years, showing up in only a handful of notable films, including 2010's "The Expendables" and "Iron Man 2," and 2008's "The Wrestler," for which he earned an Academy Award nomination.

Which isn't to say he didn't appear to be destined for greatness. Like Cruise, Rourke rose to fame with a string of hits in the 1980s, including "Diner," "Rumblefish," "Barfly," "Angel Heart" and "9½ Weeks." In his heyday, Rourke "soared like Icarus on a Harley-Davidson with a body of work that had critics hailing the new Brando, the new Dean," according to The Guardian, but by the 1990s, that trajectory floundered and he began picking "straight-to-video turkeys while passing up 'Platoon,' 'Rain Man,' 'The Untouchables,' '48 Hours' and 'Highlander', every one a box-office smash."

Meanwhile, Cruise's career also hit highs in the 80s, with successes such as 1983's "Risky Business," 1988's "Cocktail" and "Rainman," 1989's "Born on the Fourth of July," for which he scored his first Oscar nomination, and of course, "Top Gun."

But even after the 80s, Cruise's fame never dimmed, and his superstar image would only move on from strength to strength.

The 90s saw Cruise soar into Hollywood legend status with hits such as 1992's "A Few Good Men," the start of the highly successful "Mission: Impossible" series in 1996, and another Oscar nomination for "Jerry Maguire."

These were followed by multiple additions to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, 2002's "Minority Report," a short but hilarious appearance in 2008's "Tropic Thunder," 2014's "Edge of Tomorrow" and 2017's "American Made."

Despite a few missteps here and there (ahem, "The Mummy"), Cruise has maintained his money-making reputation, culminating in the "Top Gun" sequel, which has gone on to become the biggest box-office hit of his career, raking in more than $1.1 billion worldwide. This exceeds the total of his previous biggest hit, 2018's "Mission Impossible: Protocol," which made $791 million, ensuring Cruise's name will continue to light up the silver screen and guarantee nothing short of box-office gold.

In "Top Gun: Maverick," Cruise reprises his role as the rebellious pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and is joined by another star of the original film Val Kilmer as well as Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm and Glen Powell.

In the wake of the success of "Top Gun: Maverick" and massive renewed public interest in Cruise, it seemed timely for Rourke to be asked about his fellow 80s film star during the Piers Morgan Uncensored talk show. But it appeared he only had critical thoughts on the megastar.

When asked by Morgan how he felt seeing "someone like Tom Cruise grossing a billion dollars with 'Top Gun: Maverick,'" Rourke did not mince his words.

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"That doesn't mean s*** to me," Rourke said. "The guy's been doing the same effing part for 35 years. I got no respect for that."

He went on to namecheck a slew of his own personal favorites. 

"I don't care about money and power. I care about when I watch Al Pacino's work and Chris Walken and De Niro's early work and Richard Harris's work and Ray Winstone's work. That's the kind of actor I want to be like. Monty Clift and Brando back in the day."

Prodding further, Morgan then quizzed the star on whether he thought Cruise was a good actor, to which Rourke hit back: "I think he's irrelevant, in my world."

Reaction from the Twitterverse was mixed, as some movie fans emphasized with Rourke and others accused him of being jealous.

"Mickey always wears his heart on his sleeve. Gotta give him that," @Kelar71 wrote.

"Only people who haven't seen many different Tom Cruise movies would say this. It's just not true," @mrsjkamp wrote.

"I'd say Tom is pretty relevant given his success at the box office for the last 35 years; but Mickey's entitled to his opinion right," @MightyMoosh tweeted.

Cruise will release the seventh installment in the long-running "Mission: Impossible" series on July 14, 2023, called "Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One." Rourke will next be seen in Roman Polanski's "The Palace," due for release on Jan 12, 2023.

If the two are looking to settle the score at the box office, the outlook doesn't fare well for Rourke, who may have to come to terms with just how "relevant" Cruise truly is.

Do you agree with Rourke's comments that Cruise is irrelevant? Do you feel the superstar has been playing the same part for 35 years? Let us know and pass this on to friends and family.