With movies like Domino, Man On Fire and Sin City you're in demand again, but here was a 13 yr. period when no mainstream director would touch you.  How bad was that?
It was like being in purgatory.  I was living in a city where they put you out like a cigarette butt.  I was talking to my psychiatrist about five actors that I like and I said if those guys had to live like I'm living right now, they'd blow their fucking brains out.  And he said, "All those guys wouldn't know how to fall as far as you have; only you could fall this far."
 

You were massive in the late 1980s -- how did your career go so spectacularly, horrendously wrong?
It was never about my acting.  It was about other issues that were out of control; an arrogance that I had and an angriness.  There was stuff from my childhood that I wasn't able to put a lid on; I had a lot of issues of shame from a long time ago and they would turn to anger, which was easier to deal with than shame.
What were those issues?
I don't want to get into those.  They're private issues from a long time ago.

Did you really go from being a multi-millionaire to being penniless?
You bet your ass.  I was just existing, it was like being in jail.  I had no money, I was selling my motorcycles off.  But I was selfish, angry and arrogant and I fucked it all up.
 

Is it true that at you lowest point you hacked your little finger off?
No comment. [holds up his hand]  I've got my fingers.
But we read that you had it stitched back on...
Oh you did, yeah? [smiles] No comment.  That has nothing to do with my career.
But its true?
No Comment.  I can't answer that one.

Okay.  At the height of your fame did you really have a gold-plated Rolls Royce?
Yes.  Oh come on, when I grew up, Elvis was my man!
How much does a gold-plated Rolls Royce cost?
Too much! The car was over the top.  It wasn't actually gold-plated but it had 14-carat gold paint and certain parts of it were gold-plated, yes.
Did you drive to the shops in it?
I only drove it four or five times, I felt embarrassed to get in it.  But I used it a lot in Miami.  It worked well there with white tires and my Cuban driver in a fedora, ha ha. The rappers used to grab their crotches and fall over when I drove past.

When your acting career went tits up you returned to your earlier vocation, boxing.  How good were you?
I don't know because I came back when I was 34.  I was very good at 18 but coming back at 34, I was good but I wasn't great.  I was a good club fighter but I wasn't a Top 10 fighter.
A lot of guys that make boxing movies -- Will Smith, Russell Crowe - have trainers saying how they could have made it as boxers...
No fucking way, Jack.  No fucking way.
Because Will Smith...
Read my lips:  No.  Fucking.  Way. Get in the ring with me for one fucking round and we'll see.  We'll see what you're made of.
Will Smith told us he could last a round with Lennox Lewis...
No fucking way.  Lennox Lewis is a friend of mine, he couldn't last a round with Lennox.
Could you have?
I don't know.  I was a different weight class.  I've lasted a lot of rounds with middleweights, but [boxing legend] Tommy Hearns gave me a fucking concussion; he hit me at two o'clock in the afternoon and I was throwing up at midnight. I was Roberto Duran's sparring partner for a year and I learnt a lot, so when actors say they could be professional fighters they're full of crap.  With a capital K.

Didn't you use to know the mob boss John Gotti?
No comment.
Nothing at....
No comment.  Let's stay away from that one.

Okay.  During your stay in London you were pictured with a different girl every night.  What's your secret?
I don't have a secret.
So how are you so successful?
I'm not.  Not in my book.  I understand what you're trying to say but I'm not.  If I had my pick I'd be with one lady.
Would that be your ex-wife?  (His Wild Orchid co-star Carre Otis who Rourke married in 1992)
Yeah, sure.  So, you know...we do crazy things to numb the pain.  Does that answer your question?  Why do you think I have seven dogs?  Because I can't sleep in my bed without them.  Because the bed's too big.

The FHM office was in awe of you pulling a girl in front of her boyfriend.  How'd you manage that?
I can't go into that, that's too personal.  But I've got to give you points for your questions.
So how did you do it?  She was with her boyfriend!
Off the record?
No, it has to be on the record...
You cunt!  Ha ha.  I asked her, "Do you want to go with him?"  And she said no, so I said fine.  He was screaming and I said, "She doesn't want to go with you."
And then she went back to your hotel?
I have no idea.  [laughs uproariously]. But we're friends now, me and Andre (the girl's boyfriend ). We're friends, he came to the hotel the next morning , we had coffee together.
When you'd just been with his girl?
Yeah, but now he realises she's not that great a girlfriend.  But me and Andre are friends.
But what's happened to her?
I have no idea.  That's his problem.
Why wasn't Andre angry with you?
Because I talked to him, I had a cappuccino with him.
And what did you say to him?
The truth.
Which was what?
Ha ha, that I can't get into.  But that's it, that's the story.

You take your dog Loki everywhere -- but why do you keep chihuahuas?
I got attached to them.  My ex-wife brought one home one time and I was like, "What the fuck is that?"  But then I fell in love with the dog, and that was Loki's mother.  Small dogs have a lot of spirit and they live longer -- 16, 17 years old.  Loki's 11 and I've told her I need her around another 11 years.
Do you get upset when they die?
Oh yes.  It's just as bad as it is with a human. Oh yes.
Have you ever sat on one?
No.  I've never sat on one.

Is it true you have an IRA tattoo?
No.  People write shit.

You once talked about an A-List "fucking cunt" that stopped you getting a role, 'cos they felt you were a has-been -- who was it?
I don't know.  That must have been old angry Mickey spouting off.

There are also stories that you've had plastic surgery that's gone wrong....
No, it was just five nose operations for boxing.  It was scar tissue that had to be scraped away, and then I broke it so they had to re-break it with a hammer and then put it back together.  The cartilage was gone so they had to take it from my ear.

Finally, you've been right to the top, sunk to the bottom, and now you're heading back to the top again.  What's the one lesson you've learned?
That's a good question. [long pause] At the end of the day there's only one person responsible for where you're at and that's you.  You can't point your finger at anybody else.  You're responsible for what's happening to you -- and that's it.  And you gotta have the balls and be man enough to realise that.

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