Wizard World Chicago: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 Actor Michael Rooker Shares His Experience Being Yondu

CHICAGO, Ill. -- I got the chance to see Michael Rooker at Wizard World Chicago and it was definitely the most fun I’ve had at a panel! Rooker was extremely interactive with the fans and spent the entire panel moving around the room, making sure he got to every row. He talked to several fans, answered a lot more questions than a typical panel, and you could tell he valued the time fans took out of their day to see him.

With GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 being Rooker’s most recent role, several questions were about everyone’s favorite father, I mean daddy, Yondu. Rooker was asked what his favorite part about playing Yondu was and surprisingly it was having the makeup put on. Rooker said, “It was the only time I got to sleep during the day. It was two and a half hours of nice, comfortable sleep!” He revealed his favorite part of filming the sequel was when Baby Groot retrieved underwear instead of his prototype fin. Rooker added, “It didn’t even look like a Yondu pair of underwear! That ain’t the kind of underwear I wear!” 

Throughout the panel Yondu’s death was brought up a couple of times and allowed Rooker to open up about his character’s death. His first thought about being killed off was a disappointment because he couldn’t bring his granddaughter to see the film. He explained she is too young to see him die on screen and it would be better for her to see when she is older. Rooker then went on to explain how he thinks his death sequence was beautiful; he credited James Gunn’s writing and directing for making the scene as emotional as it was.

Photo by James Philbrick

Fans wanted to know more about Rooker’s experiences filming and he was asked if Gunn would play the soundtrack on set. He jokingly said he tried not to listen to the music, but Gunn would play it anyways. Speaking of Gunn, it is well known that Gunn and Rooker have a strong friendship. In fact, Gunn almost didn’t helm GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 because he knew Rooker wouldn’t be a part of it. Rooker talked a lot about Gunn and told the audience they first met during his audition for Slither. He spoke highly of Gunn, but also liked to joke around about him. For example, Rooker talked about his love for hats and said Gunn needs to wear hats even though he hates them. Rooker teases, “Have you seen his hair lately?!” 

Later in the panel a fan asked what Rooker’s favorite role was and he said he really enjoyed playing Yondu. The fan teases Rooker by saying, "So your favorite role was Mary Poppins?” The audience laughed along with the actor. He explained that even though he already knew how to whistle he had to relearn because his prosthetic teeth messed up his airflow and made it difficult to whistle. He said his teeth were one of the easier parts of the Yondu makeup. Afterwards, he treated the audience to a whistle. Moments like that show how much Rooker appreciates his fans. He loved playing around with them, often giving them silly answers to their questions. He said when he first found out he was playing Yondu he just thought, “money, money, money.” He said he doesn’t have a favorite co-star because he doesn’t like any of them. However, he did say his favorite person to work with on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 was Rocket. 

The audience got the chance to learn about Rooker on a more personal level during the panel. When he was 13 he moved from Alabama to the north side of Chicago and fell in love with Chicago pizza. His favorite actress is Geraldine Page and his favorite food is ice cream/chocolate covered pretzels. He rides a Harley motorcycle and didn’t always want to be an actor, but thankfully he became one! He also said if he could remake any movie and play a character from it, he would remake WAR WAGON and would play John Wayne’s role of Rancher Taw Jackson. 

Overall, Rooker was a blast and treated the fans to some hilarious moments like twirling a fan’s cosplay staff or listening to the audience’s jokes. He specifically requested the audience to tell him jokes after saying, “This is the only joke I know, so don’t bitch and moan if you know the answer, just listen like you haven’t heard it before! How does a cow defend itself? Cowate!” Rooker asked several audience members about their costumes, interests, and never said no to a hug or selfie. He even took the time to specifically interact with the deaf audience. He had them teach him how to sign 'jiggly butts,' which got lots of laughs from the crowd. Lastly, Rooker was asked if there was a possibility Yondu could return and he responded with “maybe, it depends.”

Written by James Philbrick -- Click here to read James' posts