Mickey Rourke Speaks Russian for 'Iron Man 2', Trashes 'Spider-Man'

Above: Mickey Rourke visited a Russian prison to prepare for his role in Iron Man 2

In an new and fascinating interview with Mickey Rourke over at The Guardian, the actor touches upon everything from his days living in a $600-a-month apartment to his comeback role in The Wrestler to losing his entire family to the preparations he had to make for his part in Iron Man 2 to how he really feels about all these superhero movies. One part you Iron Man fans might find interesting was when Rourke talks about having to learn Russian for his role as Tony Stark's nemesis Ivan (aka Whiplash). According to Rourke, he'll be speaking Russian for most of the film.

He says, "I decided to do half my role in Russian, and that's hard because the Russian language doesn't roll off the English-speaking tongue very easily. I spent three hours a day with a teacher, and after two weeks I know four sentences! Let me see, it's sort of like... 'Yezzamee menya... Yezzamee manya obott... Er, nemaboootty menya...'" He later adds the translation: "If someone kills me, don't wake me up, because I'd rather be dead than live in your world." But even though he's co-starring in what is perhaps next year's biggest superhero film, Rourke still isn't too keen on those types of movies. He notes, "I'm not gonna rush out and see the next Batman, I'm not big on formula movies. I don't like all that Spider-Man shit."

On his future projects, Rourke briefly talks about his upcoming role in The Expendables ("Stallone, when I was flat broke and I could hardly pay for a bowl of spaghetti in a restaurant, gave me a couple of weeks on Get Carter, and that paid my f**kin' rent for eight months"), and says he'd like to get Mick Jagger to star opposite him in Larry Clark's Mona Lisa. Check out the entire interview over at The Guardian - it's a fun read.