Rourke Predicts Sean Penn Will Win

According to The Malaysian Insider, Mickey Rourke firmly believes that Sean Penn will win the Best Actor Academy Award for Penn's performance as Harvey Milk in the biopic, Milk.

Rourke is nominated for his role as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in the movie, The Wrestler, where Rourke recently won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award for his role in the movie directed by Darren Aronofsky.

While Rourke feels he will not win the Oscar, he's confident there will be other opportunities for awards glory down the line. Not to mention that Rourke's appearing in and recognition for The Wrestler will help him gain more prolific roles. Rourke says, "a sequel to Iron Man is coming together, with Robert Downey reprising his role and me playing the villain."

Variety originally reported that Rourke was in talks to play a Russian villain in Iron Man 2, known in the popular Marvel Comics as The Crimson Dynamo. Rourke appearing in the movie as well as his role or potential character he will play is not yet officially confirmed.

Another project that Rourke is developing is Wild Horses for director Walter Hill. Rourke himself wrote Wild Horses 18 years ago.

The Academy Awards will be broadcast on ABC on February 22.