The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke is set to play Gareth Thomas in a forthcoming biopic about the openly gay Welsh rugby player, according to comments from the actor himself. But Rourke is quick to point out that Thomas is not a gay rugby player, but "a man who plays rugby who is gay."
"When I met the rugby player, Gareth Thomas, this is one thing that he and I talked about," the actor said during an appearance on Alan Carr's Chatty Man. "This is something that’s really important. We’re doing a movie about a man who plays rubgy who is gay."
Rourke acknowledged that a central point of the Thomas biopic is to challenge the idea of labeling: "Abso-fucking-lutely. I read the story. It’s one of the [toughest], hardest sports in the world to play. They play with no pads. They play… it’s a really brutal sport. To be a man who plays rugby who is gay and to live with that secret for the amount of years that Gareth had, to perform at the high level that he performed at, it takes a lot of courage."
It's currently unknown when the Thomas biopic will start rolling before cameras, nor is there any word on additional cast and crew members beyond Rourke.