On the heels of a very successful return to the big screen in “The Wrestler”, Mickey Rourke has been selected to play Whiplash in Iron Man 2.

Variety is reporting that the 56-year-old actor had reportedly been offered only $250,000 to play the role. On Feb. 18, New York magazine reported that the deal seemed to have fallen apart, although sources told EW the next day that it wasn’t necessarily dead yet. Rourke’s agents have since renegotiated his deal, Variety says, but there’s no word on exactly how much he’ll be paid. Rourke will play a Russian character called Whiplash, using elements from another comic book bad guy, Crimson Dynamo.

Rourke recently scored an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson, in “The Wrestler”. That was a movie about a once headlining professional wrestler who, now at the end of his career, makes his way through the independent circuit, trying to get back in the game for one final showdown with his former rival.

This story doesn’t necessarily relate to wrestling, except for that fact that Rourke has been welcomed into the wrestling world with open arms for his dead-on portrayal of a has-been wrestler in “The Wrestler”, plus he is going to be in attendance in WrestleMania 25, and have some role in a match with Chris Jericho.

This story seems to change day by day. It looks as if the WWE is/was going to have some sort of match with Mickey Rourke and Chris Jericho. It would apparently be the match that features a celebrity outside the wrestling world, which is what WrestleMania does every year.

If you saw Raw this past week, you saw a clip of Mickey Rourke being interviewed on the red carpet before the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles this past weekend, and calling Chris Jericho out, of all people. Later on Raw, Jericho came out to the stage and basically excepted.

Using Rourke as this year’s celebrity at WrestleMania 25, is a good move. Rourke has gotten rave reviews for the Wrestler, even from the mainstream media. I am sure this would bring more interest to WrestleMania from people who would like to see how well he performs, and if his acting skills from “The Wrestler” carry over.

For Jericho, it should be a nice pat on the back for him to be involved in this high profile match, and will get bigger exposure because of it. He already pops up on VH1 shows and the like from time to time and has hosted a weekly radio show on XM Radio.

Now, it isn’t known yet if this would be a normal 1 on 1 match with the 2 of them or not, of if there will be any stipulations in the match. Both were on Larry King Live Tuesday night and seemed to get the ball rolling. When Rourke was asked if he would wrestle Jericho, he said that wrestling was Jericho’s world, not his, although he does have experience boxing. So, it might be some sort of gimmicky match.

However, yesterday the Associated Press reported that a spokeswoman for Rourke said he won’t be taking his role as a professional wrestler into a real-life ring after all, and that he will be entirely focussing on his acting career.

Apparently, the thought is his appearance could hurt his chances of getting an Oscar. However, Vince McMahon still sounds confident that a match will take place. He issued a statement on www.EOnline.com, stating “I am pleased that Mickey Rourke will be in attendance at WrestleMania to support the WWE Superstars who support him and the film in which he stars, “The Wrestler”.”

I guess all we can do, is stay tuned.

When I first heard of the movie “The Wrestler”, starring Mickey Rourke, I didn’t really think it was going to amount to much. I thought it was probably going to get panned by the critics, and that it probably wouldn’t last long in the theaters. Boy, was I wrong. From the beginning it got really good reviews, and Time Magazine has called it Mickey Rourke’s comeback film.

“The Wrestler”, directed by Darren Aronofsky, stars Rourke, Earnest Miller, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood, premiered at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, and won top honors. Fox Searchlight then acquired the rights to distribute the film in the US, and was released in a limited capacity on December 17, 2008.

The film is centered on retired professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson, once a headlining professional wrestler and now at the end of his career, as he makes his way through the independent circuit, trying to get back in the game for one final showdown with his former rival.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Rourke being interviewed on NBC’s Today Show. I thought, maybe people are going to give this film a chance. Famous film critic Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars, stating “I cared as deeply about Randy the Ram as any movie character I’ve seen this year. I cared about Mickey Rourke, too. The way this role and this film unfold, that almost amounts to the same thing. Rourke may not win the Oscar for best actor. But it would make me feel good to see him up there. It really would.” Other critics have applauded Rourke for his portrayal of Robinson. Some have said this work could earn him the Oscar. Well, if he doesn’t win that, his performance was good enough to win him a Golden Globe award.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to see “The Wrestler” yet, since it hasn’t played in my area. But, I will be sure to watch it when it comes out on DVD. I will watch it as a wrestling fan, to see what it is like for wrestlers like him and what they go through during this stage of their lives/careers, and not as someone looking for some artistic masterpiece. But, if I do find it to find it to be that way, then that is just gravy!