Nicolas Cage was first offered and accepted the role of Randy “The Ram” Robinson in the movie “The Wrestler” before finally rejecting the lead role of the steroid-using grappler. The highly-regarded method actor implied that he quit the role because he was not willing to use anabolic steroids and make the physical transformation necessary for a believable performance as a professional wrestler. Director Darren Aronofsky gave the role to Mickey Rourke whose stunning performance (and physique) earned him a Golden Globe award and Oscar nomination (”Nicolas Cage: I Wasn’t ‘Dropped’ From ‘The Wrestler’,” March 11).
Access Hollywood caught up with Nicolas at the premiere of his new movie, “Knowing,” Monday night in New York, where the actor cleared up recent rumors that he was let go from the Darren Aronofsky-directed project.
“I wasn’t quote ‘dropped’ from the movie,” the 45-year-old actor told Access. “I resigned from the movie because I didn’t think I had enough time to achieve the look of the wrestler who was on steroids, which I would never do.”
Nicolas Cage was once known for an intense passion for method acting that took the technique to an entirely new level. His adamant refusal to use steroids for a movie role may suggest that Nicolas Cage’s method acting madness is part of his past.
To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal,” Cage once remarked, “to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new…”
Nicolas Cage’s statements on steroids imply, purposefully or not, that Mickey Rourke must have used steroids for the role.
Actor Scott Siegel was the target of an investigation into the trafficking of illegal anabolic steroids by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Westchester County Drug Enforcement Task Force. Siegel discovered an unmarked DEA car in the parking lot of his parents’ townhome in the Lake Isle gated community in Eastchester, New York on February 18, 2009. Siegel walked around the DEA vehicle and looked in all four windows and the front windshield, all of which were tinted, and told the four undercover agents inside, “Nice fucking car.” Siegel then drove away. After realizing their surveillance was blown, it appears that the DEA called backup including officers from the Eastchester Police Department and the Tuckahoe Police Department. Law enforcement officers approached Siegel upon his return to the Lake Isle Townhouse. Siegel fled in his car and intentionally hit several vehicles belonging to local and federal law enforcement agencies before being arrested.
Law enforcement agents obtained search warrants the next day for the Lake Isle Townhouse and Siegel’s residence and seized significant quantities of anabolic steroids and cash according to the criminal complaint Read more
![](http://www.mesomorphosis.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mickey-rourke-in-the-wrestler.jpg "Mickey Rourke character uses anabolic steroids in \")
The steroid witch-hunt has expanded beyond athletes in professional sports to include performers in the entertainment industry. The recent government investigation into the pervasive use of anabolic steroids in the scripted entertainment of professional wrestling marks a departure from their focus on steroids in sports. The results of the investigation into steroid use in professional wrestling were conveniently released immediately prior to the nationwide theatrical release of “The Wrestler” promising to capitalize on the heightened media attention given to steroids in wrestling.
A movie about a professional wrestler who uses anabolic steroids that is played by an actor (Mickey Rourke) suspected of steroid use (with a history, marked by multiple physical altercations along with arrests for spousal abuse and resisting arrest, that lends itself to a roid rage interpretation) provides the perfect opportunity for anti-steroid crusaders to target the use of steroids in the entertainment industry.
There will certainly be much discussion about the parallels between Mickey Rourke and his character, Randy “The Ram” Robinson especially when it comes to steroid use. The discussion about Rourke’s physical transformation will remain in the news with every accolade awarded to “The Wrestler” from the recent Golden Globe awards to possible Oscar awards.
Everyone suspects that Mickey Rourke used steroids to obtain the physique seen in “The Wrestler.” The New York Daily News and Men’s Journal does Read more
