Quote of the Day (Mickey Rourke, on One of His Shortcomings)

" ‘Angel Heart’ was a learning experience for me, because I sat across from Robert De Niro. One of my shortcomings as an actor and as a human being was always my attention span and my concentration. Even in sports, that was something I lacked, where I couldn't go any further. Watching De Niro, he would get so goddamned focused. Alan Parker, who did ‘Angel Heart,’ would laugh at me. He goes, ‘Look at that man there, he knows all his lines, and you're out here trying to pick up a girl eating a f–––ing ice-cream cone.’"—Mickey Rourke, quoted in David Ansen and Ramin Setoodeh, “Inside the Actor’s Studio” (The 12th Newsweek Oscar Roundtable), Newsweek, January 21, 2009

(You have to read this Newsweek sitdown with six of the Oscar-nominated actors and actresses this year. No, not for Sally Hawkins, who sounds just happy to have made the cut for “Happy Go Lucky.” Not for Anne Hathaway grousing about the perils of googling and celebrity. Not for Brad Pitt trying to sound like the adult—cool to the perils of fame. Not even for Frank Langella, doing his merrily cantankerous paterfamilias act. No, I’m talking about the interplay between the two designated crazies: Robert Downey Jr. and Rourke. Man, they have gone to the other side and stayed there!)