Have you heard? Mickey Rourke is back. For good, they say.

At least Newsweek’s David Ansen seems to think so. Writing a review of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, Ansen calls us to “witness the resurrection of Mickey Rourke.” He goes to say that Mickey’s performance is a “harmonic convergence of player and part that happens once in a blue moon..” And if trailers weren’t a tool used by studios to deceive us then we’d agree, but we can’t blindly concur with Ansen without having seen the film.

Rourke has had a very shaky career thus far. The man gave some of the most amazing on-screen performances in the 80s. Then the 90s came crashing down on him when he thought he experienced some kind of enlightenment and wanted to return to boxing, a profession he trained for since childhood. During his pro-fighting stint, he declined many offers. Tarantino offered him Butch Coolidge’s role in Pulp Fiction, but Mickey refused it. He did however take up Terrence Malick’s offer to play a small but significant role in The Thin Red Line, but his scenes were cut off during post-production.

When his affair with boxing ended, he tried real hard to make the transition back to the screen. But the future looked bleak. Mickey made a living playing small time roles in films like Spun, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Man on Fire. He even starred in the music video for Enrique Iglesias’ song Hero in 2001. He was on everyone’s radar, but no one had a role good enough for him.

And then in 2005 Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez decided to cast Mickey in the role of Marv for their noir-hit Sin City. His performance in the film had his old buds raving about his comeback. It was going to be Mickey’s year according to fans and film journos. But it wasn’t. After all the Sin City fanfare quietened down it seemed like Mickey was still walking toward oblivion. The only mention of Mickey after that was when he gave it off to Mr. Tom Cruise in November 2006, and again a few months later when he protested against a puppy store in his neighborhood for unethical practices.

Now, in 2008, playing a has-been wrestler who tries to reconnect with life and family, Rourke returns to the screen under the direction of Darren Aronofsky, the hands and eyes behind films like Pi and Requiem for a Dream.

Apparently everyone in Hollywood is really connecting with Mickey this time around. The actor originally slated to play the lead was Nicholas Cage. Cage was enraptured by the script and chased the film all the way till Darren got hold of it signed on to direct the film. But Darren had his heart set on Mickey from the beginning as he told interviewers. Darren had a conversation with Cage and told him how he saw Mickey in the role of Randy ‘Ram’ Robinson, and Cage - a good friend of Mickey’s back in the day - sidestepped like a gentleman, as Darren puts it.

Now what bothered Darren was that The Wrestler was a low-budget production, an indie. Indies are funded based on international value and Mickey who was marked absent for years had given the money-men enough reason to be skeptical. Making the film with Mickey in the lead role meant that funding would be even littler than what they had in mind. Then came in Executive Producer Jennifer Roth who co-produced Noah Baumbach’s The Squid And The Whale and other successful independent productions. Roth sort of waved a magic wand at the crew and urged them to make the film with the money they had - about six million, if the voices in the grapevine should be believed. Darren went with it and now the finished piece is doing its rounds on the festival circuit garnering rave reviews at every stop.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival this year, and bagged the Golden Lion award for Best Film. Darren dedicated the award “to all the wrestlers who we met along the way, who are working for two-hundred bucks a night” and “who just want to entertain and are willing to sacrifice their bodies and their souls for it.” Isn’t that what you do too, Darren? Except you guys probably get paid a little bit more for it, indie or not indie.

The official trailer samples Bruce Springsteen’s song also titled The Wrestler. Watch it here.

Fox Searchlight opens the film in the US on December 17th. The film will reach international screens by mid-January.