Alan Parker’s famous 1987 thriller ‘Angel Heart’, set in 1950s New York, follows private detective Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke), who is hired by a mysterious client named Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro). Cyphre tasks him with tracking down a missing musician, Johnny Favorite, with whom he once had a secret arrangement.
Angel’s investigation plunges him into a dark and sinister world. The deeper he digs, the stranger and more terrifying the events become. Witnesses he interviews begin to die violent and mysterious deaths. His search leads him from New York to sultry, mystical New Orleans, a city steeped in voodoo traditions.
Gradually, Angel encounters inexplicable phenomena tied to black magic and the occult. He realizes that Johnny Favorite’s disappearance is far more complex and sinister than it initially seemed. As the investigation unfolds, he begins to question his own identity and sanity, facing horrifying revelations about himself and the very nature of evil.
An equally gripping drama unfolded behind the scenes, where a lasting feud between the two stars began.
Mickey Rourke later described the filming of Angel Heart as extremely tense due to Robert De Niro’s behavior. According to him, De Niro immediately created an uncomfortable atmosphere, which blurred the line between professional role immersion and personal hostility. Whether it was simply method acting or a deliberate jab remained unclear, but the decades that followed suggest it was more likely aimed at undermining Rourke, then a major idol of the 1980s at the height of his popularity.
Director Alan Parker confirmed the animosity, describing it as a “war.” He explained that each actor constantly watched the other, determined to outshine and dominate in every scene, making the set feel like a boxing match. Some speculated that De Niro, already established as the star of Raging Bull, may have felt threatened by the young and rising Mickey Rourke.
The aftermath of the feud
The conflict had long-term consequences. Rourke later claimed that because of De Niro, he lost the chance to appear in Martin Scorsese’s 2019 gangster epic The Irishman. At that time, Rourke was struggling financially and had just earned money from a boxing match in Russia. Scorsese reportedly wanted him in the film alongside Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Christopher Walken, and Robert De Niro. However, according to Rourke, the casting director informed his manager that De Niro refused to work with him again.
Since then, De Niro has continued his collaboration with Scorsese, most recently starring in Killers of the Flower Moon. Meanwhile, the feud between Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro, which began on the set of Angel Heart, has gone down as one of Hollywood’s most notorious behind-the-scenes dramas, illustrating how personal conflicts can shape careers and future collaborations in the film industry.
