The Playlist:
There’s a long history of Hollywood plundering Asian action stars for their own, from Bruce Lee to Jay Chou, but aside from the occasional exception (who could forget Paul Rudd in “Gen-Y Cops?” Answer: everyone), the exchange rarely works the other way. But with investment from China and elsewhere becoming more and more important, the balance is starting to tip a little. Kevin Spacey is starring in Chinese picture “Inseparable” and Christian Bale took the lead in Zhang Yimou‘s “The Flowers Of War,” while Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling are heading East for the Bangkok-set “Only God Forgives.”
And now two more are continuing the trend, as a press release from Margate House Films reveals that Oscar-nominee Mickey Rourke and “Twilight” star Kellan Lutz, who are about to appear together in the swords-and-sandals epic “Immortals,” are starring in “Java Heat,” a South-East Asia-set action-thriller from the Indonesia-based company.
I'm so glad that Mickey Rourke is back making movies again. He was always very talented. It's too bad that he ruined his looks with all that plastic surgery because he used to be one of the best looking men in Hollywood too.