Testing It Up

In life, it doesn’t matter as much how low you fall for as long as you go ahead and pick yourself up. This is especially true in the world of show business, where we normally see people come and go, experiencing incredible highs and unbelievable lows.

No two names are being talked about more nowadays than Robert Downey Jr. and Mickey Rourke, who have been earning accolades in the recent gamut of awards shows. Both have also been nominated for much sought after Academy Awards.

If we flash back to 1999, we will see an entirely different Downey. The actor was out of sorts as he struggled with heroin and cocaine addiction, eventually spending almost a year in jail. It was a complete turnaround from where he was only seven years earlier, when he earned an Oscar nomination for playing Charlie Chaplin in the movie “Chaplin” in 1992.

Now clean and sober, Downey is definitely getting back on track. His two movies hit the big time in Hollywood in 2008. Iron Man was a box-office success, and his performance as a white actor playing a black army sergeant in Tropic Thunder earned him an Oscar nomination.

Iron Man is now in the negotiation stage for a sequel, and another comeback King, Mickey Rourke, is being tapped to play a villain in the new movie. Rourke led a rather troubled life the past few years, battling, among others, substance abuse and other excesses. He has since cleaned up his act and now handles his work with professionalism, consistency and a sense of responsibility – things that were glaringly absent during his darker days.

2008 proved to be a magical year for the actor as aside from getting an Oscar nomination for his role in “The Wrestler”, he also earned a SAG Awards nomination. He also won the Golden Globe for the same role last week.

Tags: cocaine, comeback, ironman, mickey rourke, recovery, robert downey, Substance Abuse, the wrestler, tropic thunder

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