The veteran actor told the Orlando Sentinel he will play infamous Mongol warrior Genghis Khan in a biopic, written and directed by John Milius, the scribe behind Apocalypse Now, Dirty Harry and Jeremiah Johnson. He also directed the Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn in the 80s.
Rourke had this to say:
“I read his script and you know, the man is known for his tough writing. He wrote Conan and Dirty Harry and Apocalypse Now, and it’ll be interesting to see how he works behind the camera. I’m playing Genghis…John wrote as a piece told from the son and grandson’s point of view, how they saw this mythic figure from their family. You see him in flashbacks, back when he was in his mid-40s. And back then, being in your mid-40s was being REALLY old.” [First Showing]
Color me interested, but extremely skeptical. Milius hasn’t offered much in the last decade or so and an epic on Khan would be a large, large undertaking. Even despite Rourke’s recent comeback, it may be too big for him to lead, according to a studio standards.
And then there’s the whole Rourke not being anywhere-close-to-Mongolian-or-Asian-looking-in-any-way thing.
What do you think? Could Rourke play Genghis Khan?