I love that Ellen DeGeneres dressed up as Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine, Mickey Rourke dressed up as … well … I’m not sure what he dressed up as but it’s fun that he covered up his normally leathery tanned skin. The O’Connell brothers, Charlie and Jerry, dressed up as a shark and Shamu the whale respectively at the Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times 17th annual Halloween Carnival held this week at Universal Studios … and Matthew McConaughey dressed up as the Bee Girl from the Blind Melon music video. See … it’s fun to dress up for Hallowe’en. I urge y’all to get in on the fun and dress up, too!! I am so excited for my costume! I wore a fun Incredible Hulk costume (see it HERE) to the Dead Man’s Bones concert last night but my main Hallowe’en costume will be revealed later on today (watch my Twitter). If YOU dress up today, I want you to snap pics and send them in to me via email (pinkisthenewblog @ gmail.com) and I’ll post as many of them on the blog as I can :) Have Fun! Happy Hallowe’en!!!

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To be completely honest, it’s hard to tell if Mickey was really just playing around or he confusedly believed he was gettin’ busted … the poor bobby looked a bit confused, too. Ah well, it’s all in a day’s night’s fun, I suppose … well, for Mickey Rourke, that is.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Mickey Rourke has been lapping up the sunshine and in mucking about in the sea with a mystery woman in what seems to be the new celebrity hotspot. The 55-year-old is in Croatia, where Beyonce and Jay-Z holidayed last week – with the female friend – and everything seemed to be going swimmingly between them. The Wrestler actor looked fit and toned as he helped the pretty girl into the cold water from the rocky beach and then appeared to pull her down in one swift movement so she was swimming. he star is in the country for the Dubrovnik Film Meeting where he is promoting the film. The actor was wearing floral swim shorts during his dip in the sea, and the dog tag of his Chihuahua Loki, who died earlier this year at the age of 18. His female friend seemed to be enjoying lapping up the sunshine in a small black bikini. The pair swam and messed about in the water at the beach of their hotel, before retiring to sun loungers for a drink. During a press conference in Croatia, Mickey wore sunglasses, smoked and told jokes about the filming of The Wrestler.

No word on who the mysterious woman in the black bikini is but surely she was drawn to Mickey’s tiny shorty shorts … I mean, one look at those babies and you can see how the ladies would be lining up. I, personally, would prefer it if Mr. Rourke wore longer board shorts (or just pants) when next he goes for a swimming jaunt but, hey, homie’s gotta work with what God his plastic surgeon gave him.

[Photo credit: INFdaily]

Entertainment Weekly’s second annual Comic-Con preview issue features Iron Man 2 on the cover, and inside it’s packed with exclusive first looks at highly anticipated TV shows, comic books, and movies. The first Iron Man blasted Robert Downey Jr. back to stardom, and the superhero franchise is readying to return to the big screen on May 7, 2010. Iron Man will battle new villain Mickey Rourke, size up Scarlett Johansson (exclusive photo of ScarJo as Black Widow, after the jump!), and, hopefully, prove that the success of the first movie wasn’t a fluke. Downey knows the movie isn’t an underdog this time around. “There are a lot more invisible eyes on us now,” he says. When Marvel Studios first announced the sequel, no one was sure what the movie would be about. Downey, director Jon Favreau, screenwriter Justin Theroux, and the rest of the creative team struck upon the idea of introducing two very different foes for Stark. On one side is Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a fast-talking weapons manufacturer who fancies himself the next Tony Stark; on the other, Vanko, who, while incarcerated in a Russian prison, creates his own battle-suit, which shoots devastating, whip-like beams. Hammer and Whiplash join forces to take down Downey’s character, Tony Stark. Rourke, for his part, wanted to instill some lightness into the role of the heavy. “I told Favreau, ‘I don’t want to just play him as a one-dimensional p—-,’” he says. “He let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit.” Just as the deals were being hammered out, Terrence Howard — who had played Stark’s best friend — fell out of the sequel in a public salary dispute. The role was re-cast, with Don Cheadle stepping in. “We had to make some tough deals,” says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. “When they got public, you go, ‘That sucks. Okay, you want a peek behind the curtain? Here you are!’” Says Cheadle, “Terrence and I couldn’t be more different. We address it head-on in the movie in one exchange. We’re not trying to fool people.” (Cheadle admits he didn’t know much about Marvel’s superhero before the first movie came out: “I always thought Iron Man was a robot.”)

It may seem a bit early to be featuring characters from Iron Man 2 on a magazine cover, especially since the film doesn’t open in theaters until Spring of next year, but with Comic-Con taking place in San Diego, CA next week it makes sense that EW would want to put a big name attraction on the cover. After the jump, check out the first promo pic of Scarlett as Black Widow that has been released to the media …

Adding more flesh and blood to the new movie, Scarlett Johansson joined the cast as Stark’s mysterious new assistant, Natasha, who has an alter ego of her own, Black Widow. That introduction inevitably sparks romantic tension between Stark and former assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who’s been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. “The men want it to be, like, ‘Ooh, the girls are fighting over Tony,’ but it’s not as standard as that,” says Paltrow. “There’s a weird male catfight fantasy. Downey agrees. He believes what differentiates the franchise from other superhero series can be summarized as follows: “We’re horny. Not, like, can’t-bring-your-kids horny, but just…horny.” The question remains whether Iron Man 2 will soar like the first film or show signs of rust when it hits theaters. “People are going to be more critical,” says Downey. “That’s their prerogative….In a way, there’s no way to win, except to win. Big.”

As I’ve mentioned a few times before here on the blog, I’m more of a DC Comics fan (ie. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) rather than a Marvel Comics fan (tho, I do love the big names like Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man) so I’m not too familiar with the Black Widow character. But, from what I’ve seen of Black Widow in her comic book incarnation, Scarlett very much looks the part. Iron Man made me SUCH a big fan of the character, director Jon Favreau did such an amazing job with the first movie that I have every confidence that Iron Man 2 will be just as spectacular. This is a great tease for the coming movie. I can’t wait to see more! Are any of y’all going to Comic-Con this year?

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In Iron Man 2, the scarlet and golden-metaled hero must face an adversary with some amazing gadgets of his own. Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) sports a power pack on his chest that looks similar to the one that Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) uses. “The technologies are definitely related,” says director Jon Favreau. “That’s part of the core theme of the film.” The villain’s alter ego, Ivan Vanko, is a Russian who “has constructed his own version of a suit,” Favreau says. Among the creative innovations: a pair of whips, powered by the suit’s glowing chest piece, that are expected to keep Iron Man cracking. Whiplash “is going to light them up,” Rourke quips. This first image of the character shows Whiplash making an appearance at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. Favreau as usual is tight-lipped about plot points and declines to discuss whether the big-screen Whiplash is, as in the Marvel Comics, a weapons designer who works for Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a competitor of Tony Stark/Iron Man. “We like to play into and against the expectations that people might have, so we mixed it up a bit,” Favreau says. Rourke’s performances in Sin City and The Wrestler helped convince the director that the actor was the best candidate to face Downey in his sequel to last spring’s blockbuster that grossed $318.4 million. “It was very important that the villain be as compelling as can be. … Once I thought of Mickey in that role, it made me understand how to shape the story.”

Hahahaha … the pic is kinda cool but I’m not sure I quite see Whiplash just yet. All I see is The Wrestler wearing bondage gear. Mickey does have that gnarled look that makes him look like a badass … but until we can hear him speak or see him in action we won’t really get a good feel for his take on the character. Even still … I’m loving that director Jon Favreau loves to release photos like this so early in production … the film doesn’t open in theaters until May of next year but we’re already getting photos like this. My guess is that if another “first look” photo gets released it’ll be of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow. So … what do y’all think of this photo of Whiplash?

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Mickey Rourke loves wrestling, but he is putting Hollywood first. The actor brought a slice of Hollywood to Texas on Sunday as he — and later “Pussycat Dolls” lead singer Nicole Scherzinger — talked to reporters at Reliant Stadium ahead of WWE’s annual pay-per-view extravaganza “WrestleMania 25.” Rourke addressed talk several weeks ago that he may get involved at “WrestleMania” in a wrestling role instead of a support role. “My agents said it would be detrimental to my career” to take the focus off of acting after making a comeback in “The Wrestler,” he told reporters, which included local TV stations and international wrestling media. Also, “I’m doing ‘ Iron Man 2′ now, and the insurance company said under no circumstances could I get into the ring,” he added. Rourke was in town to take a seat Sunday night at the anniversary edition of the mother of all wrestling pay-per-views in support of wrestling legends Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. With “Nature Boy” Ric Flair in their corner, the legends took on Chris Jericho, who has bad-mouthed them and Rourke’s character in “The Wrestler” on WWE TV shows in recent weeks. After training hard and getting hurt a lot, “I started really enjoying it,” Rourke said about wrestling. “I gained the respect for a sport I knew nothing about.” Asked by one reporter if he would have loved to become a wrestler in retrospect, Rourke said: “Oh, God, yes.” Rourke, flanked at the press conference by Flair and Steamboat, said WWE and its stars had supported “The Wrestler” so much that he wanted to show support for the wrestlers at “Mania” as well. “I’m very honored,” he said. “I was out of the movie business for 15 years. The wrestling movie has given my career a boost.” Meanwhile, Flair called Rourke “one of us” and said his portrayal of a wrestler was an inspiration. “He makes us look really good,” he said. Rourke quipped that after gaining weight for “The Wrestler,” he is still working on his weight. “I’m still trying to get in shape for ‘ Iron Man 2,”‘ he said. Later on at “WrestleMania 25,” Rourke couldn’t quite restrain himself after all. After Jericho won his 3-on-1 match against the legends, he provoked the former boxer Rourke who ended up getting into the ring very slowly and taking his cowboy hat off before punching and knocking down the WWE superstar to gain a measure of revanche for the legends. Rourke then celebrated in the ring with the legendary Flair to big cheers from the audience.

I never once doubted that Rourke would climb into that ring, if only for a brief moment, once it was confirmed that he would be attending WrestleMania this year. It was too perfect an opportunity to not capitalize on. The Wrestler really gave him his life back, it only made sense that he would want to return the favor by appearing at the sport’s biggest yearly event. Not that I was every a wrestling fan but I used to play with the toys and watch the WWF cartoon back in the 80’s. I might’ve been struck by a little of the Hulk-a-mania back in the day. I cannot believe that WrestleMania is already 25 years old … it used to be such a big deal to be able to watch the event on Pay-Per-View. Hahahahaha! In any event, Mickey deffo keeps scoring the cool points by keepin’ it real in this manner. While the sport of professional wrestling may be nothing more than sport theater, Mickey’s decision to get involved is very awesome in my eyes. He prolly ain’t got many more chances to do something like this so … good for him for playing along.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

These photos are just too damn cute. You can actually FEEL the love that Mickey has for Jaws … it’s really too adorable. I love that life has given Mickey Rourke a second chance and I love that he’s got a very loyal companion to share it with. I’m not a dog person, not by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I can understand the love that a person can have for their pooch. These photos of Mickey and Jaws really brightened up my day, I hope they brighten up yours as well :)

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Less than a month after he capped a remarkable comeback with an appearance at the Oscars, Mickey Rourke spent three hours in a high security Russian prison. The American actor, who was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his turn in The Wrestler, visited the Butyrka prison in Moscow to research his latest role. Rourke has signed up to play Russian villain Whiplash in the upcoming sequel to comic book movie Iron Man, in which he’ll star alongside Robert Downey, Jr. In a bid to understand his character’s experiences, Rourke was given a guided tour around Butyrka prison on Friday. He was accompanied by guards during his visit and spent some time in the cells to get a feel for how the inmates live. Rourke even ate a prison meal and played table tennis with a guard. At one point when he lay down on an inmate’s bed, Rourke quipped: “My sofa seems much stiffer.” Butyrka prison was notorious during Stalinist times for its brutal conditions and thousands are believed to have been killed by firing squad there. The Iron Man sequel will also star Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson. It will be directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Jon Favreau.

HMMM … I somehow doubt that the Russian guards allow prisoners to wear bright blue designer loafers and sunglasses but, overall, it looks like he got the gist of being a Russian inmate. I have to say, I’m very glad that the rumors about Mickey getting the Whiplash role in the sequel turned out to be true … I think we all know at this point that he is a superb actor and will deffo bring much to the character. I’m less excited about the news that Scarlett Johansson will be appearing in the movie as well. In my estimation, Emily Blunt would’ve been a much better pick … but, sadly, that rumor did not pan out. In any event, we know that production has officially begun on Iron Man 2 and now that we know that Mickey has begun his movie prep things should be coming along very quickly from here on out. Woot!

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

God bless Brangelina, they showed up to last night’s awards with the biggest smiles they could muster to try and show the world that they were honored “just to be nominated” because, judging by their collective track records during this year’s awards show season, they knew they were going home empty-handed … which is exactly what ended up happening by night’s end. Sarah Jessica Parker looked like a DREAM in that beautiful dress … it was a little Carrie Bradshaw but she pulled it off wonderfully. Generally, I was quite pleased with what I saw on the red carpet … Sophia Loren didn’t scare the hell out of me until she showed up on the Oscar stage to present her award. In HD, she was not treated too kindly.

For me, tho, the big star of the night was Hugh Jackman. He really turned in an amazing performance and totally made the show. His opening number (and subsequent numbers, I must add) really showed that there is life yet in the old Academy Awards and they are worth watching:

I was also very impressed with the way the Academy chose to honor the acting nominees by having former winners in their categories come on stage to say nice things about them. I know I was touched by some of the nice things said about the actors who were nominated this year … I can only imagine what an honor it was for the nominees to hear those same things being said about them, to them. I hope they will continue to honor the nominees in this way in future shows … it was my second favorite thing about the show after Hugh’s job hosting.

And how about those winners! I think everyone was pretty surprised by that “shocker” of a winner. After the jump, check out some photos of some of the winners posing with their shiny new Oscars and read about what went down last night — oh, and watch Hugh Jackman’s amazing Oscar opening one more time — it’s deffo worth it …

Slumdog Millionaire ended up finishing its fairy tale run by taking home the award for Best Picture … but I think it was Sean Penn’s upset over Mickey Rourke for Best Actor that really surprised a lot of people (me included):

“Slumdog Millionaire” and its director, Danny Boyle, with their modern-day fairy tale about hope and hard times in the slums of Mumbai, pushed aside big-studio contenders to sweep top honors at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Sunday. “You dwarf even the sky,” Mr. Boyle said in a tribute to the people of Mumbai, who figured by the thousands in his film. He spoke while accepting the best director award, only minutes before “Slumdog Millionaire” was named best picture, helping give the evening a distinctly international tilt. Mr. Boyle, 52, has been known for putting an inspirational twist on often dark and sophisticated movies that have included “Trainspotting,” about heroin addiction, and “Sunshine,” about sacrifice on a mission to reignite the sun. The many prizes for “Slumdog Millionaire” — whose writer, Simon Beaufoy, was honored for best adapted screenplay, among others prizes for the film — completed the film’s steady march past competitors like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” from Paramount Pictures and “Frost/Nixon” from Universal Pictures. The best picture award was a first for Fox Searchlight, which distributed “Slumdog Millionaire” in the United States. In the past, the studio appeared to narrowly miss the big prize with a series of comic best picture nominees that included “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Sideways” and “The Full Monty.” In what was widely perceived to be one of the year’s few tight races, Sean Penn was named best actor for his performance in the title role in “Milk.” “You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns,” said Mr. Penn, who edged aside Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke, among others, for the best actor Oscar, his second. Best actress honors went to Kate Winslet for her performance in “The Reader” as a German woman who becomes romantically involved with a teenager and later conceals her role in the Holocaust. Hollywood has been taking on more and more of a global tilt with each passing year, but on this evening it was especially evident in the show and in the awards themselves. After Penélope Cruz won for best supporting actress for her role in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” she gave part of her speech in Spanish — she said backstage it was a dedication to the actors and people of Spain — and then suggested backstage that the movies had to grow beyond the bounds of strictly American stories. “We are all mixed together, and it has to be reflected in the cinema,” she said. The supporting actress award, the night’s first, was presented by no less than five past winners of the prize, Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Eva Marie Saint, Goldie Hawn and Anjelica Huston. The heavy show of star power was meant to make good on a promise that the broadcast would deliver entertainment value that reached far beyond that offered by the nominees. Heath Ledger, in a widely anticipated development, posthumously won the best supporting actor prize for his performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Mr. Ledger’s parents afterward said his Oscar statuette would be held in trust by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Many other awards also went to those favored in the preshow betting. Dustin Lance Black won the best original screenplay Oscar for “Milk,” about the gay-rights advocate Harvey Milk. Mr. Black, who is openly gay, said Mr. Milk’s story had given him hope that one day he might “fall in love and even get married.” Mr. Beaufoy, whose “Slumdog” screenplay was based on a novel by Vikas Swarup, rattled off a list of places he never expected to be — “the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium and here” — as he accepted that award for his work on a film that captured many of the movie industry’s pre-Oscar honors and was widely viewed as a preordained winner of the evening’s final award, for best picture. Also in the first wave of awards, “Wall-E” was named best animated film, though it had been denied the best picture nomination that its backers at the Walt Disney Company and its Pixar Animation unit had sought. Overall, Sunday evening’s Oscar show became a struggle between the ambitions of a producing team — headed by the veteran film producer Laurence Mark and the filmmaker Bill Condon — that aimed for an evening full of surprises and the apparent determination of 5,810 voters in the academy to bestow honors largely where they were expected to go. A much-discussed new format for the show opened with a loosey-goosey showbiz number and proceeded along very self-referential lines, with lots of inside jokes that drew substantial laughs from the crowd inside the Kodak Theater here. Hugh Jackman, the evening’s host, started with a very short comic monologue that poked fun at his own failure to get nominated for his performance in “Australia.” He then plunged into a comic song-and-dance number that poked fun at serious movies that were nominated for best picture, including “Milk” and “Frost/Nixon,” and less serious movies that were not, including “The Dark Knight.” An early appearance by the screenwriting winners helped give the evening a story line of its own: the awards categories were arranged in blocks intended to reflect the process of building a film, beginning, in the first segment, with a blinking cursor tapping out the beginning of a script on a blank screen. In another departure, the celebrity presenters were not identified in advance, partly in the hope that a larger-than-usual audience would tune in to see who actually showed up. Last year’s broadcast, with the smallest domestic audience in the ceremony’s history, had only about 32 million viewers in the United States.

It remains to be seen what the ratings for last night’s awards show are at the time of this posting but I really hope the show did well … I was very pleased with the overall production. While there will, undoubtedly, be naysayers complaining about this or that … I think it should be noted that the producers worked really hard to put on an entertaining show. I, for one (and the folks at our Oscar party, for that matter) really appreciated and enjoyed the show.

I was really touched by the Ledger family’s acceptance of Heath Ledger’s posthumous award for Best Supporting Actor … I was just really happy that they were able to get some happy closure (in some way, I think) after Heath’s untimely death. But, I think I liked Sean Penn’s acceptance speech best. His call for marriage equality resonated with me … he is a worthy man to portray the life’s work of Harvey Milk. While I was really anticipating Mickey Rourke to win, my heart sang that a film like Milk was honored by the Academy Awards this year.

Again, I really enjoyed this year’s show … I can’t believe it’s already over … but I think one more look at Hugh’s opening musical performance is deffo in order:

Mickey Rourke and “The Wrestler” have won top honors at the Spirit Awards, the annual eve-of-Oscars salute to the best of independent cinema. Rourke, a nominee at Sunday’s Academy Awards, won the best actor for his performance as a washed-up prizefighter in director Darren Aronofsky’s moving drama, which later scooped the ceremony’s best picture prize. Rourke’s award was the latest in a series of honors that have gone to the 56-year-old, who has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity after his career suffered a prolonged slump through the 1990s. In a typically profanity-laced acceptance speech, Rourke dedicated the win to “Wrestler” director Aronofsky — and his pet chihuahua, who died last week. “I’ve just gotten thousands of letters from strangers and people that know me about my dog that died six days ago, Loki. This is for you baby,” he said. “Thank you Darren Aronofsky for believing in me. Directors like Darren come around every 25 years,” added Rourke. Aronofksy said he had been drawn to the “The Wrestler” because of its subject matter. “Wrestling was a world no one had tackled in a serious way, and the more we looked into that world, the more complex it seemed,” he said. In other awards Saturday, Oscar nominee Melissa Leo won the best actress award for her performance in the human-trafficking drama “Frozen River.” Tom McCarthy meanwhile took best director honors for “The Visitor,” which is notable for helping journeyman Richard Jenkins earn a best actor nomination at Sunday’s Oscars. In the supporting actor and actress categories, Spanish siren Penelope Cruz won for her performance in Woody Allen’s steamy comedy “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Cruz will be seeking to emulate the success at the Oscars, where she is nominated in the best supporting actress category. “I didn’t expect this,” Cruz said. “I go to all awards like this, not expecting anything, so it’s always a surprise when I win.” Meanwhile James Franco picked up the best supporting actor award for his portrayal of gay politician Harvey Milk’s long-time lover Scott Smith in the Gus Van Sant biopic “Milk,” which also earned best first screenplay for writer Dustin Lance Black. Black later paid tribute to Sean Penn’s portrayal of Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official. “Sean’s performance really captured Harvey,” Black said. “That’s why this film has such a connection beyond gay and lesbian audiences. We need to continue building the coalitions that Harvey was so good at.” In other notable awards Saturday, France’s “The Class (Entre Les Murs)” won the best foreign film, while the best documentary went to “Man on Wire,” director James Marsh’s exhilarating account of Frenchman Philippe Petit’s tight-rope walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. “What Philippe did was to stop time, it was a little miracle,” Marsh told reporters.

Altho the Film Indepedent’s Spirit Awards are only 25 years old, I love that there is a place for Indie films to get their due when, overwhelmingly, the Motion Picture Academy tends to overlook many amazing performances due to, well, their indieness. True, some Independent Films and actors get honored at the Academy Awards but, for the most part, name recognition plays a huge part in the voting process. I’m sure many of you have never even heard of the film Frozen River and yet, it was one of the year’s strongest films. After the jump, check out a couple photos from the show itself and some pics of a few winners posing with their Indie trophies in the press room afterward …

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that James Franco took home the award for Best Supporting Male. He turned in such an amazing performance in Milk, I’m thrilled for his win. I’m also happy that Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler took home the top prize. I have been a HUGE Aronofsky fan since his movies Pi and Requiem for a Dream changed the way I viewed movies (ie. as an art form and not merely as entertainment). If you have not seen either of those films GO SEE THEM NOW! They are amazing. While I don’t think that The Wrestler will win Best Picture at the Oscars tonight, my money is on Rourke to win the Best Actor trophy tonight. In any event, much congrats goes out to the winners at this year’s Film Indepedent’s Spirit Awards.

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]