I am such a great gamer that seven-year-olds kick my butt.
— Michael Rooker
I dig those kinds of roles where I have to dig down and find some internal motivation. I like tough roles.
The cosplayers are very fun. The kids are the best. Everyone is a kid at a comic con. There are some amazing stuff that goes on at these cons. The people have a blast. It's so neat to see the fans lining up to see you and talk with you. And asking you questions.
Me, personally, Michael Rooker - I'm not a good victim.
As the actor, you can't be worried about the scene that you're going to playing two days from now. You think about what's going on right now and in the moment. That's what you worry about.
I did 'Slither,' so I've done seven hours in the makeup chair. So two hours for zombie makeup is like nothing. That's a walk in the park for me. When you do seven-hour makeup and then eight hours of work, you're thinking, 'Oh God, what did this do to me?' You're under that rubber forever. It's crazy.
If you got a stuntman that can do it better than me, go do it. But if they can't do it better than me, I'm doing it myself - plain and simple.
I like horror and sci-fi almost equally, but I watch more sci-fi than horror. Does that mean I like sci-fi more than horror? Maybe.
'Night of the Living Dead' is one of my favorites.
I learned how to turn it on and turn it off. You learn that in theater, too, but for film work, I learned from doing 'Henry,' I learned how to leave work at work and go home. There's always spillover. Actors speak of this.
I think all the roles I've done have been very passionate people who go to absolute extremes to make their points.
I swear I am the worst gamer. I try, I try, and I try, but for some reason, you know, it - yeah. I got - everybody beats me. Let's just put it that way.
I hope there are 10 sequels to the 'Guardians' movie!
We had a thing there where you could turn in - it was some sort of recycling program - the bottle caps of RC Cola. You'd turn in 12 of them, and you'd get a ticket to see a movie. That's how I started going to the movies. Running around the neighborhood looking for bottle caps. We were like little scavengers.
As a kid, I saw a lot of scary movies, but they were mixed with comedy, like 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.'
I would have loved to have been on 'The Walking Dead' longer, but it didn't happen.
Actors are actors. They're all buddies. I've done so many movies and TV that you get to be friends with everyone. And the ones you don't get to be friends with, you simply don't work together with them again.
I was ecstatic when 'The Walking Dead' came along. Merle Dixon was so perfectly adapted for me.
'Animal' was my nickname in high school.
You know how it is, somebody will see your work and like it and remember it, then decide to make it a role in their film.
Horror fans need horror, okay? They don't need little worms squirming around going down your throat. To them, that's not horror.
'Cliffhanger' got me in the best shape of my life, working at 10,000 feet up in the mountains. And everybody was great. I lived in Italy for seven months doing that movie. It was a great vacation.
I'm a very jovial guy. I like to laugh, and when things strike me as funny, I don't hide the fact that it's humorous to me. It almost doesn't matter where I'm at: I will burst out and laugh if it's funny to me.
With 'Guardians,' I knew way from the start what the plan was on this one. The harder thing for some actors is when you are doing a TV show like 'The Walking Dead' because you find out you're character is going to die a week before or even just a couple of days before.
I've been going to the movies since I was 6 or 7 years old.
I've been in this business a long time, and I've worked with a lot of different directors now. It's cool to get the chance to work with the same guy several times.
Groot is an awesome character.
I've done so many movies and TV that you get to be friends with everyone.
Before 'The Walking Dead,' a few of the jobs before that were just like, 'Ugh.' I try and make everything as creative as possible, even when I get the script and can't imagine what I'm going to do with it.
'The Walking Dead' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' have pumped up the recognition factor a thousand times. I can't get off an airplane anymore. I don't know how the hell they know and how these people find out. They must have some interesting, secret way of getting a hold of the flight manifesto or something.
When you think of it I haven't really done a lot of horror. It's amazing: I have done some really good ones, but I haven't done a lot of them.
I got my training here in Chicago at the Goodman School Of Drama, and a lot of my personal work is usually internal work and stuff. Everything else that goes on is icing on the cake - your wardrobe, your makeup, whatever else you have to do.
I don't approach a role by saying I'll be unsavory or unlikable.
