The Oscar Best Actor race could be heating up – in more ways than one.
The Daily Beast reports that Mickey Rourke, star of “The Wrestler” and a Best Actor favorite, had some harsh words for Sean Penn, a likely Oscar rival thanks to his own lead performance in “Milk.”
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“I’m not even sure he’ll got a nomination,” the site quoted Mickey as saying after his appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on December 23, but according to the site, that wasn’t the end of it.
The Daily Beast claims that they’ve seen an e-mail, which bashes Penn as well. “Seans an old friend of mine and I didn’t buy his performance at all,” Mickey reportedly wrote in a text message to a Los Angeles entertainment source. “Thought he did an average pretend acting like he was gay besides hes one of the most homophobic people I kno [sic].”
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The actor’s publicist refuted that the message was legit to The Daily Beast.
He’s “completely unaware of the text,” Rourke’s rep reportedly told the site.
“There is no Oscar feud between Mickey and Sean. They have known each other and been friends for a very long time. Mickey attended the New York premiere of Milk to support Sean and only has the greatest respect for him,” the rep concluded.
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Access Hollywood has reached out to all parties involved for comment.
Rourke’s rep was unavailable and did not respond. Penn’s rep had no comment. Access is awaiting comment from Fox Searchlight, the studio behind “The Wrestler.”
The Daily Beast has told Access that they stand by their story.
“The Wrestler,” billed as Rourke’s Hollywood comeback, earned a healthy per-screen average of $21,170 in its second weekend in limited release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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