Mickey Rourke gives an impressing performance, some say inspired by his own ups and downs in the business, at the Venice Film Festival in the fourth film from director Darren Aronofsky, “The Wrestler,” a story about a washed-up wrestler falling down from public’s grace.

Whatever the source of Rourke’s intense acting, critics say that this is not only a surprising comeback, but also probably the best role he ever had, something that could actually bring him an Oscar this time.

The actor agrees in an interview: “People for the last 15, 20 years would say, 'What's the favorite movie you've ever done, what's your best work? And I would say: 'I haven't made it yet.' And I can honestly say right now, the best f-----g movie I've ever made is this" and goes on saying:"Three of the hardest movies I ever made, '9-1/2 Weeks', 'Angel Heart' and 'Year of the Dragon', and you could take all three of those movies and roll them into one and it wouldn't have been as hard as this."

All those years in the ring finally seem to pay up for the 51-year-old actor, but the fact that he is a trained boxer actually made things a bit harder while preparing for the job, due to the well known fact that wrestling is more of an acting job than a punching job.

All in all, Rourke is not only very convincing as a wrestler, but also as a hunted soul pairing with equally twisted and tormented characters, a tough stripper (Marisa Tomei) and his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood).