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"Mickey Rourke has said that his upcoming biopic of Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas will be &amp;quot;ten times better than The Wrestler&amp;quot;. Rourke revealed that he has written the script for and intends to star in the project, which will be titled The Welshman and centre on the life of the first openly gay professional rugby union player.   Speaking to So Film, Rourke said that he could identify with the &amp;quot;terrible shame&amp;quot; Thomas felt. &amp;quot;The day I met Gareth Thomas, this man with this secret, this terrible shame, I said to myself that I&amp;#039;ve also been through hard times. Just like him,&amp;quot; Rourke explained. The actor also spoke about the unsteady beginning for The Welshman, saying that he had to take over writing duties himself because the first screenwriter &amp;quot;was a little homophobic and he knew nothing about rugby, even though he was English!&amp;quot;  Rourke added that Thomas gave him his blessing after reading a draft of the script: &amp;quot;I was really nervous asking him to read it, because it&amp;#039;s his life story. And because there were others who wanted to make the movie. &amp;quot;But he told his manager, who was negotiating with a studio: &amp;#039;I trust Mickey&amp;#039;.&amp;quot; Rourke also confirmed that The Welshman will be dedicated to the memory of his Domino and Man on Fire director Tony Scott, who committed suicide in 2012. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a555543/mickey-rourke-gareth-thomas-movie-ten-times-better-than-the-wrestler/>