MICKEY ROURKE - MICKEY ROURKE SAVED BY SPORT

MICKEY ROURKE SAVED BY SPORT

Mickey Rourke would rather have never worked at all than spend 14 years without an acting role, and says sport gave him the mental strength to make a comeback.

Mickey Rourke credits sport for saving his career.

The 'Wrestler' actor - a former boxer who fought during his Hollywood hiatus - says he was able to find the mental strength to resurrect his career following 14 years in the acting wilderness because of the focus engaging in physical activity had taught him.

He said: "I think sports gave me a mindset to keep moving, that I'm not dead. You learn to pick yourself up and keep going. For me the game was not over."

The 57-year-old star admits he still blames himself for ruining his early Hollywood career with his wild partying and turning down roles, and admits during his lower period he wished he had never had any success at all.

He confessed to an audience at the Sarajevo Film Festival yesterday (20.08.09): "I did not behave properly, like a professional, I wasn't real responsible. I paid the price for it.

"Those years were hard. It's better to never work than to have worked and become a has been. I have been a has been for 12, 13 years. You feel terrible about yourself, you are not in control any more."

Although saying 'The Wrestler' - in which he plays faded grappler Randy 'The Ram' Robinson - is his favourite ever role, Mickey insists he wouldn't make a sequel because the first movie was so gruelling.

He explained: "I'm not 20 years old any more and when they throw your ass down, something is gonna hurt. My back would go out, my knee would go out. I had three MRI scans in the first two months. If they would say they want to make Part 2, I would say, 'No, thank you.' "