Actor Mickey Rourke says a film based
on the life of openly gay rugby star Gareth Thomas will begin filming
in February.
In
an interview with New
York Magazine's
blog the Vulture,
Rourke said about the upcoming movie: “That'll be a great movie.
We start shooting February.”
Appearing last year on the BBC's Alan
Carr: Chatty Man talk show, the 58-year-old Rourke confirmed that
he'll play Thomas in the film.
When Carr, who is openly gay, asked,
“Is it true you're about to play a gay rugby player?” Rourke
responded: “You're not supposed to say that, okay? Here's the
deal. When I met the rugby player, Gareth Thomas, this is one thing
that he and I talked about. This is something that's really
important. We're doing a movie about a man who plays rugby who is
gay.”
“Oh, I see,” Carr replied. “Sorry,
I shouldn't be so homophobic.”
“I read the story,” Rourke told
Carr. “It's one of the toughest, hardest sports in the world to
play. They play with no pads. They play … it's a really brutal
sport. To be a man who plays rugby who is gay and to live with that
secret for the amount of years that Gareth had, to perform at the
high level that he performed at, it takes a lot of courage.”
Thomas, 36, first began talking about
his coming out in 2009. In
an interview with the UK's Daily
Mail, he said he had his first male encounter at the age of
18 and told his teammates he was gay in 2006, shortly after divorcing
his childhood sweetheart.