Calling Tom Cruise ‘irrelevant’, actor Mickey Rourke said in a new interview that he has ‘no respect’ for the Top Gun star because he hasn’t been pushing himself as an actor. Rourke, himself an Oscar nominee, disregarded the billion-dollar success of Top Gun: Maverick and said that ‘money and power’ doesn’t mean anything to him.

In an appearance on Piers Morgan’s show, Rourke was asked about Cruise, whose already successful career recently reached new heights with Maverick. “That doesn’t mean sh*t to me,” he said. He added, “The guy been doing the same part for 35 effing years. I got no respect for that. I don’t care about money or power. I care about… when I when I watch Al Pacino or Christopher Walken working, or De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris and Ray Winstone, that’s the kind of actor I want to be like. A lot of guys that tried to stretch as actors.”

Once one of the most popular young stars in Hollywood, Rourke’s career was derailed in the 90s following a brief sabbatical from acting. He made an attempt at a comeback in the 2000s, with roles in Sin City and his Oscar-nominated performance in The Wrestler. He followed it up with a villain role in Iron Man 2, but has since failed to capitalise on his career resurgence.