James Gunn has directed his good friend Michael Rooker in all his films, including his 2014 blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy . “[He’s] like this stray dog,” said Gunn. “I don’t listen to him,” said Rooker.
Michael Rooker and James Gunn at the world premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy on July 21, 2014
Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images
When director James Gunn first met actor Michael Rooker, it was when Rooker was auditioning for Gunn's directorial debut, the glorious 2006 horror comedy Slither. Rooker had long since established himself as one of Hollywood's go-to character actors — including in 1988's Mississippi Burning, 1990's Days of Thunder, and 1993's Cliffhanger — and Gunn was a little bit in awe.
"I had been, actually, a big fan of his work, before I met him," Gunn told BuzzFeed.
Rooker remembered Gunn's reaction a bit differently. "He gave me a big standing ovation," said Rooker in a separate interview. "I'm like, 'Maybe you should wait until after the audition's over?'"
Not only did the actor land the role, and not only did the two become fast friends — "we see each other a couple times a week," said Gunn — but Rooker has starred in all of Gunn's subsequent films, including as the cosmic rapscallion Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy.
The reasons behind this lasting creative and personal camaraderie are, at first, not too surprising. "I like surrounding myself with people I really care about," said Gunn. "To have some amount of affection around you when you're making a movie is a great thing, and so a lot of it's simply that."
Rooker agreed. "I think he likes me," he said. "I like him."
But there is another, perhaps more unstable element to what brings Gunn and Rooker together: "He's a madman," said Gunn.
When asked whether he concurs with this assessment, Rooker chuckled. "Nah, not at all," he said. "People do [think that]. But I have odd ideas. A lot of people don't see things the way I see things. I see things differently. And when I'm working on a project, I definitely see things in a different way. My ideas are not the average ideas you're going to get from an actor. "
Michael Rooker
Marvel
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