section_path: Acting career/1990s
section_name: 1990s
paragraph_text: 1990s
  
  In the early 1990s, Rourke was offered and declined the role of Butch Coolidge, which later became Bruce Willis 's role in Pulp Fiction. After his retirement from boxing, Rourke did accept supporting roles in several 1990s films, including Francis Ford Coppola 's adaptation of John Grisham 's The Rainmaker, Vincent Gallo 's Buffalo '66, Steve Buscemi 's Animal Factory, Sean Penn 's The Pledge, and Sylvester Stallone 's remake of Get Carter. Rourke also has written several films under the name Sir Eddie Cook, including Bullet, in which he co-starred with Tupac Shakur.
  
  While Rourke was also selected for a significant role in Terrence Malick 's The Thin Red Line, his part ended up on the cutting room floor. Rourke also played a small part in the film Thursday, in which he plays a crooked cop. He also had a lead role in 1997's Double Team, which co-starred martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and former NBA player Dennis Rodman. It was Rourke's first over-the-top action film role, in which he played the lead villain. During that same year, he filmed Another 9½ Weeks, a sequel to 9½ Weeks, which received only limited distribution. He ended the 1990s with the direct-to-video films Out in Fifty, Shades and television film Shergar, about the kidnapping of Epsom Derby-winning thoroughbred racehorse Shergar. Rourke has expressed his bitterness over that period of his career, stating that he came to consider himself a "has-been" and lived for a time in "a state of shame".
  
  In the early 1990s, Rourke was offered and declined the role of Butch Coolidge, which later became Bruce Willis 's role in Pulp Fiction. After his retirement from boxing, Rourke did accept supporting roles in several 1990s films, including Francis Ford Coppola 's adaptation of John Grisham 's The Rainmaker, Vincent Gallo 's Buffalo '66, Steve Buscemi 's Animal Factory, Sean Penn 's The Pledge, and Sylvester Stallone 's remake of Get Carter. Rourke also has written several films under the name Sir Eddie Cook, including Bullet, in which he co-starred with Tupac Shakur.
  
  While Rourke was also selected for a significant role in Terrence Malick 's The Thin Red Line, his part ended up on the cutting room floor. Rourke also played a small part in the film Thursday, in which he plays a crooked cop. He also had a lead role in 1997's Double Team, which co-starred martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and former NBA player Dennis Rodman. It was Rourke's first over-the-top action film role, in which he played the lead villain. During that same year, he filmed Another 9½ Weeks, a sequel to 9½ Weeks, which received only limited distribution. He ended the 1990s with the direct-to-video films Out in Fifty, Shades and television film Shergar, about the kidnapping of Epsom Derby-winning thoroughbred racehorse Shergar. Rourke has expressed his bitterness over that period of his career, stating that he came to consider himself a "has-been" and lived for a time in "a state of shame".