September 2014 By Philip Berk
It was a given that Michael Rooker, best known for playing Merle Dixon on Walking Dead, would have a role in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
He and the director James Gunn go back a long time.
But when offered the part of Yondu he agonized.
“I was was still committed to The Walking Dead so I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it.” he tells me on the set. “I knew he wanted me to be a part of the project. I wanted to be part of the project, but my schedule on the series was pretty intense. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and then I get the call; it was the best acting I ever did in my life. ‘Oh, no, no, I’m going to be written out of the show! Oh, no.’ Hee hee hee. ‘Mr. Gunn. What’s up baby,’ I gave him a call right away and I told him. Oh, we were beautiful, it was awesome.”
Wasn’t he sorry to walk away from Walking Dead?
“Don’t get me wrong. I loved being on The Walking Dead. The arc was absolutely gorgeous for any actor. It was perfectly written and being television it’s written specifically for you. As you go along, the writers get your rhythms, your sensibilities, they write for you, so it was beautifully patterned after my humor and stuff. Not that I’m Merle Dixon. Merle is vastly different from me, but the survival instinct is quite strong in both of us. It was a beautiful experience and the actors, writers and the staff were all great.”
But working again with James meant much more, Why?
“I’m always happy to work with James Gunn. I worked with him on Slither and Super. We both started in the independent world. I started with my first movie Henry; Portrait of a Serial Killer and he started with his first Tromeo and Juliet I was at it before he was but we’ve both worked pretty long and hard to get to where we are, and we’re both having a great time.”
Were you a fan of the Guardians comic books?
“You know what, I didn’t know much about them, but I immediately started looking for them and I saw Yondu, the characer I play, and I was thinking Wow, how are they going to do that, because Yondu has this huge fin, which some artists depict him as blue and red. I had no idea what to expect until I got here and found it’s all kind of modern, it’s different, it’s a little industrial. It’s very cool. Some of the fans have seen the photos, and they think Wow, the wardrobe, the make-up, everything is so cool. ‘We don’t mind that you don’t have a huge fin, but you have too many clothes.’ I said really, okay!”
On the set he’s covered with make up. How long does it take to get it off?
“A couple of hours, maybe an hour-and-a-half. It’s starting to take longer to take off than put on. Not Good.”
Your character, who is he?
“I command the ravagers. I am Chris’s surrogate daddy. I raised him from when he was a little boy. He called me and said, ‘Come get me, pick me up,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ I went and I picked him up.” Emphatically he adds. “I did not capture or steal him, no matter what he says. He wanted to come, right? I rescued Quill.”
There’s his wicked sense of humor again.
Hee hee hee!