Mickey Rourke will play Mafia Hit Man in THE ICE MAN
Mickey Rourke(The Wrestler/Iron Man 2) is set to play Mafia hit man Richard "Ice Man" Kuklinski, in true-crime novelist Phil Carlo's adapted version of his Kuklinski biography, The Ice Man.
Mega-producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura(Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) orginally had the film rights to Carlo's 2006 best seller about the convicted murderer, but Carlo wouldn't extend the deal after his option expired in August. The "bad blood" was due to di Bonaventura wanting Channing Tatum(G.I Joe:Rise of Cobra) in the title role.
Last month, Carlo told the NY Post:
I think Mickey Rourke would really be good. He's got that sense of danger . . . But it's not Channing Tatum.
As funny as it is, I think it's great that Carlo was willing to stand up for the integrity of his work. Tatum simply doesn't have the chops to play a sadistic hit man! Apparently, after that story ran, Rourke met with Carlo, and now both will be developing the feature.
Carlo is thrilled to be working with Rourke instead:
We hit it off beautifully. We're producing it together. We'll shoot in the spring in New York, New Jersey and Florida.
Carlo believes Rourke sees the role as a sure fire Oscar contender, and looks to really sink his teethe into the role.
He's really looking forward to being the Ice Man, and I think he'll do a great job. He's talking about it being his 'Raging Bull.'
Kuklinski was a deranged and dangerous psychopath, to say the least! Rourke would be able to bring a lot to this role.
Before the age of 18, Kuklinski killed 50 vagrants under the West Side Highway, "just for fun."
Carlo explained:
Because it was bums, the police had no idea there was a serial killer on the loose.
Kuklinski turned his sadistic serial killing into a profession, using guns, knives, strangulation and cyanide to murder more than 150 people while under the employ of mafia crime lords The Gambino family.
He used to use cobblestones, but he was getting gray matter on his clothes, so he stopped.
Kuklinski was arrested in 1986 and died in 2006, supposedly of natural causes. In Carlo's novel, he claims was murdered by Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, a mafia member turned police informant.
So Carlo and Rourke will produce the the feature, no one is attached to direct as of yet.
So what do you think of Mickey Rourke playing a mafia hit man in the Richard Kuklinski biopic The Ice Man?
Source: NY Post