Mickey Rourke’s awesome, uncensored, rambling acceptance speech at Spirit Awards

Let’s hope Mickey wins the Oscar – just so he can talk.

Mickey Rourke set the standard for over-the-top acceptance speeches on the eve of tonight’s Oscars ceremony when his film The Wrestler won three prizes at the Spirit independent film awards last night. The 56-year-old star of The Wrestler, who is in line for the best actor Academy Award, was named best male lead. Celebrating victory, Rourke kissed the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, on the lips and gave a meandering speech during which he recalled time spent in police cells a decade ago, urged Hollywood to give his friend Eric Roberts another chance, and paid tribute to his recently deceased Chihuahua dog, Loki. “This is for you, baby,” he declared. – From Guardian UK

After flirting with the Oscars for much of its 24-year history, this year’s edition of the Independent Spirit Awards struck out on its own somewhat. For the first time in six years, none of the best picture contenders at the Spirits went on to reap an equivalent Oscar bid, though the ultimate winner — “The Wrestler” — was in the mix. By snubbing “Milk” as a best-picture nominee in favor of fare like “Ballast” and “Wendy and Lucy” that had no chance of making it into the final five at the Oscars, the Spirits regained a degree of their one-time independence. – From LA Times

If Hollywood gave out awards for most entertaining acceptance speech, Mickey Rourke would dust the competition. Jack Palance with his one-armed push-ups has nothing on Rourke’s verbal eruptions, which manage to be simultaneously tender, funny, profane, sincere, and obviously staged. He did not disappoint when Philip Seymour Hoffman handed him the Best Actor award for The Wrestler at Saturday’s Independent Spirit Awards. After planting a big, wet kiss on director Darren Aronofsky, he spent the first few minutes of his speech imploring the movers and shakers in the room to hire Eric Roberts and give him a shot at career resuscitation. – From EW.com