Iron Man 2 cemented Robert Downey Jr. as the cornerstone of the MCU, with the franchise only moving onward and upwards after the film’s financial success. However, actor Mickey Rourke, who played the role of Ivan Vanko in the movie claimed that his character and screen time greatly suffered to ensure Downey Jr. remained the star.
During an interview, Rourke opened up about his brief stint in the MCU, while also voicing his frustrations with most of his scenes ending up on the chopping board. As a result, Rourke had some pretty nasty and stingy words for the makers of Iron Man 2, and here is what the actor had to say about his deleted scenes from the movie.
Mickey Rourke Claimed That 80% of His Scenes Were Cut From Iron Man 2
Actor Mickey Rourke played the role of Ivan Vanko / Whiplash, the primary antagonist of Iron Man 2. However, Rourke’s character ended up being a one-dimensional bad guy with the actor claiming that most of his scenes were left out from the final cut.
During an interview with Andy Lee on the Off The Ball YouTube channel, Rourke opened up about his role in Iron Man 2. At the same time, Rourke voiced his frustrations with his scenes cut from the movie. He said:
I told whatever company it was to go f**k themselves and kiss my a**.
Rourke explained that he spent a lot of time on his character work for the movie, delivering what he felt was a great performance. However, most of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor despite good results during test screenings.
It wasn’t supposed to be my movie, you understand.
Rourke made the above statement, explaining why almost 80% of his character’s scenes were cut from the movie.
The actor’s words strongly imply that his scenes were cut because his performance was overpowering that of the main star Robert Downey Jr. Hence, Rourke suggested that his scenes were cut so that he wouldn’t steal Downey Jr.’s thunder in Iron Man 2.
Mickey Rourke Fought to Add Layers to His Iron Man 2 Villain
During a separate interview, Rourke also talked about fighting with the studio to ensure that Whiplash wasn’t just a one-note villain and wanted to add different layers to the character. He said (via ScreenRant):
I wanted to bring some other layers and colors [to the charater], not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy.
Rourke added that writer Justin Theroux and director Jon Favreau allowed him to explore different aspects of the character but most of these scenes were cut.
The actor also revealed that he spent nearly three months working on his Russian accent and worked extremely hard for the role.
I don’t want to have to care so much and work so hard, and then fight them for intelligent reasoning.
Rourke made the above statement explaining his creative differences with the studio. As a result, it is easy to understand why The Wrestler actor was unhappy since most of his performance ended up on the cutting room floor.
Iron Man 2 is streaming on Disney+.
