For Iron Man 2, Mickey Rourke demanded that his character, Ivan Vanko aka Whiplash, be allowed to have a giant cockatoo with which he would drunkenly argue. Because, as Rourke described it to director Jon Favreau, “I don’t want to just play him as a one-dimensional pussy.”
When I first covered this story, I wrote:
It’s easy to make fun of Rourke thinking the solution to one-dimensional pussyism is a Cockatoo, but let’s think about this: You see any guy walking down the street with a shaved chest and white highlights in his hair, you probably think, “Pussy.” But add a parrot to the same guy’s shoulder who he’s yelling at and suddenly you’re like, “Whoa, I bet that guy has some stories.”
While I try not to make a habit of testing out all my theories (I have neither the dogs nor the ability to train them to walk backwards for that), this one in particular provides an interesting case study. Now, thanks to the magic of Photoshop, we have some iconic movie imagery that has been specially altered to test this hypothesis. Does a bird add depth? You decide.
Scent of a Cracker. "Hoo-Ah!"
"Hey, do you fellas heah somethin?"
"I coulda been a contendah,Polly."
Crackers at Tiffany's
Fly Hard
Fly Day the 13th
"Cockatiels are for closers!"
"Rawr, Precious see food bird."
"You're the one that's square, man."
Schindler's Nest
Godfeather
Parrot of the Christ
"Photobombed!"
Full Parrot Jacket. "This one's for fighting. That one's for fun."
Scarfeather: "First ju getta money, den you getta power. Den I gonna getta Parrot, mang. Ju watch."
Hmm, I don't think I did this one right.
-Thanks to Stinky Peet for Godfeather and Scarfeather, and the inspiration. And BDarbs for a couple screencaps.
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/257/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/arrested-development-best-of-fan-made-tobias-funke-insert-me-anywhere1-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/corona-light-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/princess-monstertruck-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/puppy-150x150.png)
Really? No screen shots from Along Came Polly?
I would’ve liked to see Steve Martin holding a dildo with a bird sitting on it in Parrothood.
Al Sharpton stopped Uproxx from doing “The Preacher’s Wife” with a bucket of extra crispy from Church’s on Whitney Houston’s shoulder…
She smokes crack, too
*drumroll*
“Photobombed” FTMFW
I would liked to have seen some old silent film shots of Buster Keaton and Para Keeton.
“Crackers at Tiffany’s” may as well be the name of the movie whether there’s a parrot in it or not.
I thought for sure that the Taxi Driver caption would be ‘You squawkin’ at me?”. Well done.
Dor sho gha! No Shatner + TuCAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!?
The Precious joke is so easy, and yet it’s always my favorite. I’m so ashamed. It’s like picking a Rob Schneider film out of a list of comedies.
And yet no mention of Bubo. You break my heart, Vincenzo.
“Crackers at Tiffany’s” may as well be the name of the movie whether there’s a parrot in it or not.
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That’s what I always called it, anyway
That bird on Rourke’s shoulder strikes me as a bit of one-dimensional pussy. He needs … I dunno, something …
I love Parrot of the Christ and Photobombed next to each other. That parrot is like Forrest Gump
Abe Vigoda in The Godfather when asking “one for old times sake”…a parrot would have been PERFECT!
That’s our bird, Snowball the dancing cockatoo (TM), on Jason’s shoulder from the movie Halloween. Snowball is also the one peering into the window of the bus.
How’s about in Taxi Driver : “You squawkin’ to ME?”
Photobombed FTW…ROFLJO
I’m sorry to say that I think this is something only Mickey can pull off.
Mickey, dont need no parrot,not even Baretta walked around outside his room with his parrot. First of all the bird would be scared too death, second it would probably fly away, third of all think of the bird droppings all over him. Mickey dont need no parrots or any other props. Even in Once upon a time in Mexico, he didnt always have that little dog as I recall. Mickey will always be bigger than life props or not. The man is awesome and I am glad to see him back on the big screen.
Hell yeah, iyce. Rourkers for life, son.
ROURK ROCKS !!! always has, always will
AND DATS DA NAME O DAT TUNE
just hope he hangs for awhile, unlike so many other greats, too early down the proverbial shute !!
we luv ya main !!
I must break you
Um, doesn’t Brando actually spend a bit of time in On The Waterfront playing with birds?