Mickey Rourke: Sport helped me pick myself up.(News) - Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)

Byline: Aida Cerkez- Robinson Associated Press

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina u Mickey Rourke blames himself for being out of the spotlight for more than a decade but says his early interest in sports gave him a spirit that allowed him to pick himself up.

The 57-year-old actor confessed to an audience at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Thursday that he was out of work for almost 14 years because he did 'not behave properly, like a professional, I wasnAEt real responsible.' He said he blames himself for ruining the first part of his career.

The star was gone from Hollywood after squandering his early potential with bad-boy behavior and by turning down roles.

'I paid the price for it,' he said.

Those years were hard, he said. 'ItAEs better to never work than to have worked and become a has been. I have been a has been for 12, 13 years. You feel terrible about yourself, you are not in control anymore.'

His comeback came with 'Sin City' and was followed by Darren AronofskyAEs 'Wrestler.' Aronofsky fought to cast Rourke against the concerns of financial backers and forged a comprise by settling on a lower budget of $6 million. The role brought Rourke an Oscar nomination.

Rourke said he had not expected to get another chance, but then got two.

'I feel very blessed, very thankful, very fortunate,' he said.

As a teenager, Rourke took up self-defense training, switched to boxing and decided on an amateur career before turning to acting.

'I think sports gave me a mindset to keep moving, that IAEm not dead,' he said. 'You learn to pick yourself up and keep going ... For me the game was not over,' he added.

The 'Wrestler' is his favorite movie, he said, but also was the hardest one he ever made.

'Thirty years ago these guys were a bunch of fat guys in Speedos who looked like a bunch of Germans on vacation in Miami Beach. Now they know about nutrition and they stay at the gym,' he said.

So the role of a wrestler required tough training and six meals a day to gain the required extra 32 pounds, he said.

'IAEm not 20 years old any more and when they throw you down, something is gonna hurt,' he said. 'My back would go out, my knee would go out. I had three MRIs in the first two months. If they would say they want to make Part 2, I would say, aeNo, thank you.AE'

He said his next project, 'Iron Man 2,' in which he plays an evil assassin, will 'be better than aeIron Man,AE that I can guarantee you.'

The Sarajevo Film Festival traditionally organizes events called 'Coffee with ...' that allow the press, as well as other people, to talk to stars at a downtown square. This year the guests were Rourke and 'X-Files' actress Gillian Anderson among others.