Actor Mickey Rourke has signed on to narrate Generation Iron, the upcoming documentary examining the world of professional bodybuilding. The film, scheduled for release in September of this year, follows the world’s top bodybuilders as they compete for the highly coveted Mr. Olympia title.
The documentary, directed and co-produced by Vlad Yunin and Edwin Mejia in partnership with American Media Inc. (AMI), explores the often-misunderstood culture of bodybuilding, and will include interviews with current Mr. Olympia title-holder Phil Heath and other bodybuilding legends, such as Branch Warren, Dennis Wolf, Ben Pakulski, Hidetada Yamagishi, Roelly Winklaar, and Kai Greene.
Yunin’s latest documentary is a modern take on the 1977 docudrama Pumping Iron, which starred Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger as they competed for the same coveted bodybuilding title.
Generation Iron will also feature various interviews between Yunin and Schwarzenegger, including one at the Arnold Sports Festival just after Schwarzenegger announced his new position as Executive Editor of Flex Magazine (published by AMI). Rourke, lauded in recent years for his Golden-Globe-winning role in the 2009 film The Wrestler, is a former boxer, and stars in action films, including Iron Man 2 and The Expendables.
AMI’s own David J. Pecker and Jerome Gary (who also produced Pumping Iron) are executive producing Generation Iron. Read more about the film at the Generation Iron website.
