Since no one knows what Genghis Khan looks like, this might not matter at all. However, those who cringe whenever a white actor takes on the role for an icon of any other ethnicity are probably feeling pretty offended with this one.
I’m personally disinterested for another reason altogether. I like my actors to resemble the people they play in biopics. I know it’s a petty thing, but it elevates the movie when the person on screen resembles who they’re supposed to be playing.
Mickey Rourke may spend some time in the make-up chair to make that happen for this, but he’ll have to go through a huge transformation to even come close to being believable as Khan.
According to Cinematical, Rourke mentioned that he’s definitely on board to play the role for the John Milius-written script.
At the bast level, it sounds like it could be a film of epic proportions, but I hate imagining Rourke in the role. He’s got the chops, but he doesn’t look anything like Khan, and that is almost always enough to drag me right out of the story.
That being said, my favorite portrayal of Khan was John Cleese on one of the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
What do you think?
