Man on Fire...

I read that Washington demanded to director Tony Scott that this scene not be included in the film since Rourke is literally acting circles around him in it and Denzel knew he had been completely upstaged. It might sound like just a rumor but it says a lot that Washington seemed to be making a point during press for the film by naming and praising every actor he worked with in it and ALWAYS left out Mickey's name during these praises.

I don't understand why people think acting is a competition. Discussions about acting should never include terms like "going toe to toe", "acting circles around", ".... vs.....". It's a collaborative thing about telling stories, not a boxing match. CHARACTERS can have tension between each other, sure, but acting itself isn't a fight to see who can steal the scene before the other does

Are you really that naive? Many professional actors can and DO take it as scene-stealing/dominating competition whether for career endurance, ego or both, so take up your whining with Denzel, not me, since word was that he was both suspicious of and angered by Rourke's means of doing so. I also said "LITERALLY acting circles around" by the way, as Denzel's character is visibly made to stand there passively gazing upon Rourke circling around him and repeatedly shift himself to face Rourke's chosen position (the craft of blocking in acting terms and Mickey's choices which were undoubtedly his own given his following of method acting indicate that commanding the scene is indeed what he was up to), so next time try actually watching the scene and thinking for a few seconds about it.

if you know mickey's history, he has actually made a point of saying that he saw acting as something competitive with other actors, just like with sports. he had the same problem with deniro. he wanted to compete with deniro in improvisation and deniro didn't want to do that and wanted to stick to the script. for his scene in the pledge he said he wanted to show jack nicholson something that he had never seen before. i have no doubt that his intent was to steal the scene from denzel and he did. he was miscast for this part anyways though, just as he was for thicker than blood. you can't credibly play a corporate lawyer or a priest looking like this, it takes extra suspension of disbelief. a pro wrestler?perfect casting for mickey.

Larry Gaylord: "a billion people come in on a day off, and they don't flip out!"

You definitely know the deal, chopperman. Rourke would never have been able to play scenes the way he does and become such a magnetic presence without the competitive inclinations he has. I do reckon you're right about his casting in MOF but that particular deleted scene is still incredible on his end regardless, was really such a loss to the film for being cut.