Mickey Rourke must be thanking his stars for The Wrestler, as it’s completely rejuventated his career and put him into contention for all sorts of major projects. The latest he’s signed on for, according to Variety, is The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, based on Philip Carlo’s book.
Rourke will play real life Mafia killer Richard ‘The Ice Man’ Kulinski, who worked as a heavy for the New Jersey mob for over 40 years, while also trying to maintain a life as a husband and father – so rather like The Sopranos. Kulinski eventually admitted to killing over 250 people (although this figure is disputed) during his career, murdering his first victim when he was only 13. Indeed many see Kulinski as a fully formed psychopathic serial murderer, who would have killed anyway but managed to turn it into a paid career, as he had murdered numerous people who had annoyed him, enjoying the power, before he ever got involved with the Mafia.
As yet, it’s not known when the movie will start shooting.