Exclusive ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’ Interview: Michael Rooker’s Yondu Knows Everything

If you don’t know who Yondu is, don’t feel bad. Even comic-book aficionados aren’t that familiar with the blue bounty-hunter. In “Guardians of the Galaxy” (in theaters August 1) is Michael Rooker who portrays the powerful and ruthless alien that took care of Peter Quill (A.K.A. Star-Lord) when the young boy was abducted from Earth.

I had a very relaxed chat with the experienced character actor recently at Walt Disney Studios. After he told me that he loved my accent -and asked permission to record the exchange to “capture it”- we talked about his character, his approach to filmmaking, his relationship with writer/director James Gunn (who he previously worked with in the movies “Slither” and “Super,” plus other projects), and much more.

Are you the happiest guy in the Galaxy? You seem to genuinely enjoy every aspect of your work. Was that always the case?

I could be digging ditches, doing a lot of other things. This is like the best – I don’t even call it a job- but this is the best job in the world what I’m doing as an actor really. I am glad that it shows. And I don’t necessarily want to be a director, that’s a lot of work; it’s 24 hrs. 7 days a week when you shoot and even then you have to do post-production. You do pre-production, post-production and in the middle you have to deal with all these actors; that’s hard work, that’s not for me.

You and James Gunn have been friends for many years. Does he need to “sale” you the project when he calls?

He doesn’t need to sell me anything, whatever it is. “Hey Rooker, do you want to come and do this? Whatever, yes let’s go and do it. I got time, let’s do it!” that kind of stuff.

Can you guys stop being friends on set and switch into a more professional actor-director mode?

I think that all that adds to the 100%. Having a good rapport with your director is great. You can’t always go up and talk stuff. He’s busy and you can tell when he has to concentrate and you need to leave him alone. You get to know him and learn these things in the business.

What is the best way to approach a movie? “It’s just another job” to relieve yourself from any pressure, or you go “let’s make something memorable”?

My advice for any actor, as everything else in life, is to always do your best, you may fall short and it might not end up being your best work, but at least you’re trying, you get an idea and go for it. I personally don’t like to rehearse much, I’d rather have the other actors and the director be surprised and if they don’t like it, then you’ll find out they might have a different idea and that’s what the director is there for. I come up with all sort of ideas and sometimes I have more questions than answers, which is good too, sometimes I don’t want all the answers.

I was going to ask you about that, for a character like Yondu, do you need a back-story?

There’s a back-story because it was written some time ago but Gunn told me to stop reading all that, stop being too cerebral and just have fun with it.

You have been in these very geeky projects like this and “The Walking Dead.” Is that kind of material the one that appeals to you or is it just a coincidence?

It’s been a coincidence over the past couple of years. I’ve done some other things that also have comic roots. I think that before we didn’t have the technology and the know-how to make these stories look real and the characters to be credible. Now we can do that, we can make Iron Man fly and it feels real, as real as any acting scene from a Bogart’s day. You believe these guys and you believe us when we’re flying through space and shooting our ray guns, and my arrow, and all that stuff.

As well as the fact that you are a blue creature. What was more uncomfortable, the make-up in this movie or the “amputated arm” that you wore in “The Walking Dead”?

Oh the arm, for sure, even still now my arm, my fingers become numb. At one point I had burnt my arm, and I didn’t know, it was all blistery and I had to go to the doctor’s.

It’s not all glamour in Hollywood then!

No, it’s not!

Talking about the Hollywood life, was there ever a Yondu in your life? Have you encounter this kind of people in your career?

You mean in a positive way?

No, in a negative way.

Well, I think that Yondu has been very positive to Star-lord’s life, to raise him to be who he is so that he can survive in this galaxy full of creatures, aliens that want to eat him.

Tough love!

Yondu is the prime example of tough love, and without that, he would never have survived you know. From a human perspective, it looks a bit like abuse, but from an alien’s perspective, this is how he’s got to be raised to be able to live up to a Yondu’s kid.

There are mysteries in the movie surrounding Star-lord’s origin. Do you know the answer to those questions?

Yes. Yondu knows everything!

“Guardians of the Galaxy” opens in theaters on August 1.

“From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy’s fate in the balance. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime Rael and Benicio del Toro as The Collector.”