While earlier this year, Mickey Rourke was reported as being one of four principal cast members in Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, we assumed that the Oscar-nominated star would reprise his role as Tool, the tattooing, knife-wielding badass, in the sequel to The Expendables. Now it looks as if the two projects are mutually exclusive, as Rourke has sided with the In Bruges director and co-star Colin Farrell at the expense of the Simon West-directed sequel. Even though he did the original The Expendables as a favor to Sylvester Stallone, it appears that Rourke is seeking a return to award nominations, as McDonagh has won one Oscar (Six Shooter) and was nominated for In Bruges. Hit the jump for more on Rourke and Seven Psychopaths.
News of Rourke’s absence from The Expendables 2 comes via Deadline, but we’ve known about his involvement in Seven Psychopaths for a few months now. He’ll be joining In Bruges star Colin Farrell, as well as Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken. The black comedy will mark McDonagh’s first feature since his Oscar-nominated debut.
Seven Psychopaths, recently picked up by CBS Films, centers on Marty, a struggling screenwriter (Farrell) who gets caught up in his friends’ (Rockwell and Walken) dog-napping scheme. When they steal the Shih Tzu of a psychotic gangster (Rourke), Marty finds more action and drama than he bargained for and attempts to stay alive long enough to jot it all down.
Rourke can next be seen in Tarsem Singh’s Immortals portraying the ruthless King Hyperion. Immortals hits theaters November 11th.
