Sex symbol
Nine ½ Weeks (1986)
It might seem unlikely now, but back in the ‘80s, Rourke was considered to be a serious sex icon – masculine, yet sensitive, charming yet dangerous.
All that came to a head with Adrian Lyne’s erotic thriller, which despite its essential cheesiness is still remembered, if only for its creative scenes of Rourke and Kim Basinger getting it on.
Rourke plays John, who wraps Basinger’s arty Elizabeth in a passionate affair, only for things to crumble once complications set in. For the actor, it was a bad time – he hated the attention.
'That was when that whole pretty, sexy thing came about,'' Rourke recalls.
''Which I resented. I never saw myself that way, and I ran from it like wildfire. I don't know why.”
The film itself was panned, but for a short while, Rourke was one of the most lusted after men in the world.
It couldn’t last – and despite solid turns in the likes of Angel Heart, things began to go wrong…
Next: Troubled Talent
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