WAMG Interview: Actor Michael Rooker – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Walking Dead

By Tom Stockman | May 13, 2015

Pop culture comes to life in St. Louis next month! It’s the Wizard World COMIC CON May 22nd through the 24th at America’s Center downtown (701 Convention Plaza – St. Louis, MO 63101). As usual, Wizard World has an impressive line-up of celebrity guests including Elvira, Christian Kane, and George Romero, but the star I’m most excited to meet is actor Michael Rooker.

Michael Rooker was born in Jasper, Alabama in 1955. He has eight brothers and sisters. His parents divorced when he was 13 years old, and he moved with his mother and siblings to Chicago, Illinois, where he studied at the Goodman School of Drama. Rooker made his feature film debut by playing the title character in the gritty 1985 horror classic HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. He followed this with significant big-screen roles in TOMBSTONE, DAYS OF THUNDER, CLIFFHANGER, JFK, MISSISSIPPI BURNING, SEA OF LOVE, THE DARK HALF, MALLRATS, THE BONE COLLECTOR, SLITHER, REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, SUPER and most recently as the alien Yondu in last year’s top-grossing smash GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, but it’s his role as Merle Dixon in the first three seasons of The Walking Dead that’s really made him a household name

In advance of his appearance at the Wizard World Comic Con in St. Louis May 22^nd-24th, Mr. Rooker took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to We Are Movie Geeks.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman April 22nd, 2015

We Are Movie Geeks: I hear you’re coming to St. Louis soon.

Michael Rooker: That’s the story!

WAMG: Have you ever been to St. Louis before?

MR: Yes I have. I love St. Louis

WAMG: Your buddy James Gunn is from St. Louis.

MR: Indeed he is.

WAMG: How long have you been friends with James?

MR: He directed me in a movie called SLITHER about eight years ago and we became good friends.

WAMG: And you’ve been in all of his films sits then. I thought you were great in SUPER.

MR: Oh yeah, thanks.

WAMG: Do you ever get tired of talking about GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and The Walking Dead?

MR: Never, that’s such an awesome TV show and really a great film too so I never get tired of talking about that stuff.

WAMG: When you’re out on the street, what do most people recognize you from?

MR: Usually it’s the The Walking Dead but then after we start talking they realize that I was Yondu in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY which sometimes freaks people out when they make that connection.

WAMG: I’m an older fan. I saw HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER the weekend it opened.

MR: Right on man!

WAMG: It’s one of my favorite movies. How did you get the role of Henry?

MR: I was doing a theater piece in the time in Chicago. The director of that play actually did the prosthetic work for the film and he turned me on to the producers. They were having a hard time casting Henry so he suggested I go over there and meet with them. At that time, I had not acted in a film or any TV shows at all, so this was a great role for me to kick off my career with.

WAMG: Did you do some research on the real Henry Lee Lucas?

MR: A little bit. The director, John McNaughton, had some information for me and I looked up some myself as well. Lucas had done an interview with Barbara Walters and I watched that and I also watched some footage of him being interrogated by some Texas rangers. All that footage and all those interviews really helped me get a good handle on the role.

WAMG: I believe Lucas was still alive at that point.

MR: Yes he was, he died in prison about 10 years later I believe from heart disease.

WAMG: It was a shame about Tom Towles, did you guys remain friends after filming the movie?

MR: Oh yeah, we stayed good friends after the movie. He and I and John McNaughton, we all hung out whenever we were in the same city and we saw a lot of each other when we were at different conventions and fan gatherings.

WAMG: Have your daughters seen HENRY and what do they think about it?

MR: Yeah they’ve seen it. It’s not their cup of tea but they understand it was just a role and they like some of the things I do in it. Most of my friends like everything I’ve done but my daughters are kind of picky.

WAMG: You got some great non-villain rolls after HENRY in films such as THE MUSIC BOX, CLIFFHANGER and DAYS OF THUNDER. I would have thought you would’ve been more of a horror guy. Did you turn down a lot of horror roles after that?

MR: I did. I turned down a lot of roles that were basically the same kind of stuff, the same character. I could have done more stuff like that but I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get too pigeonholed in the horror genre or any genre really. If you look at my resume, you’ll see a lot of different types of films that I was in around that time. I was fortunate to be cast in the movie EIGHT MEN OUT. That was an important role for me to get because that’s the part that ended up getting me my agent and after that my career really snowballed and I kept getting role after role after role often in some pretty prestigious movies

WAMG: I watched JFK again recently. Your part in that film is huge. You have a lot of dialogue.

MR: Yes, JFK was a great role for me.

WAMG: What was it like working for Oliver Stone?

MR: He was a really cool dude, and great as a director. If you were in the zone, he would leave you alone. But if you were somebody who wasn’t putting out or being where you were supposed to be, he would let you know.

WAMG: Were you offered the sequel to HENRY that was made a few years later?

MR: They talked to me briefly about it, but by then they couldn’t afford me.

WAMG: Are there any roles that you turn down that you regret?

MR: Yes but the HENRY sequel was not one of them! But sure, there were a few.

WAMG: Yeah, that Henry sequel wasn’t very good.

MR: Unfortunately you have a certain element that makes a good movie work and they didn’t have that element. They didn’t have me! Not to best my own drum, but after you do such an iconic roll like that, you can’t have someone else play that role. And you didn’t have the same director, John McNaughton. He and I were the key to the success of that movie. That combination was a magical one. It just worked.

WAMG: Who have been some of your favorite costars that you have worked with? I know you worked with Gene Hackman in MISSISSIPPI BURNING, and you worked with Kevin Costner.

MR: Oh, I pretty much get along with everybody. I do what I do and I have fun doing what I do but I don’t think I have any favorites.

WAMG: What was Hackman like to work with?

MR: I don’t know. I just had a couple of scenes in MISSISSIPPI BURNING and didn’t get to work with him. It’s unfortunate that Hackman has retired. He’s an incredibly talented actor but I guess if he doesn’t want to work anymore we have to respect that.

WAMG: You were certainly memorable in MISSISSIPPI BURNING.

MR: Thanks, that was a dynamite roll, I played a scary guy.

WAMG: You’re in St. Louis May 22nd–24th for Wizard world, Comic Con. Do you enjoy doing these types of conventions?

MR: If I didn’t enjoy them I wouldn’t do them. Absolutely! They are a lot of fun. There is a lot of energy at these things. They’re sort of exhausting but you’re meeting so many fans and I’ve built up a huge, massive fan base over the years and a lot of that is from meeting people at these things and getting pictures taken and such. It’s great to meet these guys and gals at the shows, if it wasn’t for the fans, actors would have nothing.

WAMG: What do you think of the reception that The Walking Dead stars have been getting at these conventions? I went to Horrorhound convention last year and all the stars had decent lines of fans to meet them but Norman Reedus, his line went outside and snaked around the building.

MR: It happens. The Walking Dead for me and Norman, we became fan favorites right off the bat. As soon as people saw us together and saw the conflicts that were going on, it was just nuts and it still is. My character has been dead since the end of season three yet fans are still all in. Dixon brothers! Dixon power! It just amazes me. Doing the show was great while it lasted.

WAMG: What do you like to do in your free time?

MR: Oh, I do a lot of things in my free time. I’ll tell you what I don’t do. I don’t surf. I don’t swim anywhere where I’m not the head of the food chain. I love to shoot. I love all of the shooting sports. I am an avid gun enthusiast. I really enjoy the process of going out on the range and spending money on ammunition and shooting it all up.

WAMG: Have you had a film role where you had to do a lot of shooting?

MR: Yeah, I started shooting mainly because of the film roles I was getting. I started learning more and more about firearms and safety factors and how to make sure you’re in a safe environment when other people have weapons around you from a movie like TOMBSTONE for example, or any of these other cop dramas I’ve done. I grew up with five sisters so I’m used to looking out for people.

WAMG: What’s next for Michael Rooker?

MR: I think I’m going to do MALLRATS 2.

WAMG: With Kevin Smith?

MR: Yeah, after 20 years! That movie’s fan base is now massive for such a tiny little movie. The fans of MALLRATS want to see a sequel, they want to see these characters come back so we’re going to do it. Kevin, and myself, I think we’re getting everybody involved.

WAMG: I think MALLRATS is a movie that most people did not like when it first came out.

MR: You’re right, it was not well received but it turned out to be just stupid enough that people have gathered around it and supported it and now we’re doing a sequel.

WAMG: Maybe it was ahead of its time.

MR: Oh it was definitely ahead of its time. But a lot of my movies seem to be ahead of their time.

WAMG: What about GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2?

MR: There’s been a lot of talk about it. James Gunn just did an interview where he talked about the characters and how he was going to expand on them, And Yondu, my character, is one of the two or three that you will learn more about for the next film.

WAMG: Well good luck with your appearance here in St. Louis May 22-24. I look forward to meeting you.

MR: Oh, St. Louis is going to be great.

For more on the 2015 Wizard World Comic Con St. Louis, visit http://www.wizardworld.com/home-stlouis.html