Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Michael Rooker Returns

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, Henry) joins Michael Rosenbaum this week to open up on the good, the bad, and the ugly experiences he’s had on set throughout his career working with Al Pacino, while briefly on The Walking Dead, and with James Gunn on the Suicide Squad and GOTG in the MCU. During the interview, Rooker talks about his commitment to understanding roles before investing in them and how his acting process has developed over time. We also get into talking about anxiety, exhaustion while working, and the time Michael Rooker was attacked by a vicious animal. Welcome to The Inside of You Podcast, Episode 108!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Hey up there, how's it going? For those people listening on audio, I'm waving to the wide shot. It's just me in a wide shot. And there's a close-up of me if you're watching on YouTube. Another week, I finally went grocery shopping again. It was a good 10 days or more. I've been quarantined for 22 days now or so.

All right, big deal. Just trying to keep safe But today I did Go to the grocery store I wore a mask And on the way home I drove by a couple of friends' house I stayed in the truck

It was far away And I just called them Said to step outside Waved to them So I might send a video out there Of just friends waving From 100 yards away Just wanted some kind of

You know I had some celebrity friends around here Some friends that aren't celebrities And I just I just waved at them I did a drive by what are you doing tweet me instagram me what are you doing during the quarantine do you have a family are you alone like me are you are you playing some music or what kind of music are you listening to

you right now i kind of sound like a dj right now 99.5 wkdq hey fans of inside of you or first time listeners what are you listening to out there huh what's getting you going what are you eating what are you cooking out there make sure you exercise i'm not going to tell you what to do but I find that when I do exercise, I feel a lot better. I try to fill my days up with things, you know, walks, playing with the dogs. It's funny how much better you feel when you just write down. From one to two, I'll play with the dogs. From two to three, I'll cut my finger open like I did.

That's why I have a Band-Aid. Anyway. So, hey, we've got a great episode. Those of you who didn't get a chance to listen to Nick Swartson, boy, that was a good one. very funny comedian hangs with the sandler gangs and all the sandler movies uh really funny funny guy and um if you haven't listened to him make sure you watch it on youtube or listen um and subscribe please to inside of you on the youtube and uh you know it's really helping trying to grow and it's tough because people commuting they're not commuting as much

people aren't working as much so uh but i i appreciate the support i appreciate my patrons out there you know who you are and i'll say your names of course, some of you out on the outro, you know, the handles, all that stuff inside of your podcast on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook and spread the word, you know, that's how it works. It's word of mouth. If you really are liking it, digging it, it's helping you. Got great guests. One of which today is this guy, you know, this is the second time he's come on.

This is the first time when we did the interview with, so you could watch it, you know, we filmed them now. It's pretty great. Ryan Tea is my editor-engineer. He really does such a superb job in the editing room and getting the goods. Rooker is a tough type. Tough type? Yeah, I said it. I've known him for a long time. He's a friend. A lot of great stories. It's hard to get him serious. But when he does, it's, you know, you can see it. He's trying to hold back. But you know, you know there's something there. There's a lot of history behind his eyes and great. actor great intensity just very forthcoming honest and uh i loved having him so uh just a reminder before we go to michael rooker uh you know i'm trying to do this uh live podcast with zach levi that might might not happen i don't know it's july second at the north door back-to-back shows july second austin texas uh conventions guys we'll just see what happens down the road um

You know, you could always listen to Left on Laurel, the band, my band playing. You could listen to it for free all over streaming. Tell me what you think. The online store is still open, didn't close, online inside of you, online store. But seriously, you know, tweet me, Instagram me. I'm doing a lot of these Instagram live. So if you're listening and you haven't got a chance, it's great. It's kind of like a sing-along.

People throw songs at me and I've never heard or I've heard, but I've never played before. And I just, I have a guitar and I look. up and I put chords and I just try to play it off the cuff and sometimes it's shitty and sometimes it's great and people are really digging it. I bring people on the video and the Instagram lives. It's fun. Also, if you're a really big fan of the podcast, join Patreon. If you want extra footage, bonus footage, questions with me inside of me, videos to you, messages to you. Some tiers get merch packages every few months. You get to ask questions to the guests. It's a lot of fun. It's a community. I now do a YouTube Patreon. I did it last week and boy, it was a success.

We had a lot of fun. All my patrons got on there, and it was just us. So feel free to do that. And most importantly, forget everything I said if you want and help your fellow human being by supporting the Ronald McDonald House. I just did her dinner with my friend Daisy, Yoreno. She and I sponsored a dinner at the Ronald McDonald House for all the families. If you don't know what Ronald McDonald House is, imagine, you know, these are children, kids, babies.

that are suffering from many different things, cancers, leukemia, just different things. And Ron McDonald House, they house the families while their child is going through treatment. So it's a pretty amazing place. And they need your help. The families need food. And they're always looking for a sponsor of a dinner. You can get a dinner, I think, for $250. So if you have 25 friends, $10 each, I try to do as many as I can.

Also, Echoes of Hope, foster youth is a great charity. And Food on Foot, the homeless are really suffering. You think it's tough being homeless before this. Like it could be any tougher and it just got tougher. So FoodOnFoot.org asked for my friend Rob Danson, tell him old Michael Rosenbaum sent you. Anyway, you know, it's always nice to help. It always feels good. You know, there was a great thing that happened.

I'll say one more thing. On Instagram Live, I don't know if I told you this story, but I ran. randomly select people, and I just go, and they come up on the video. And they know, it's half a screen of the person, randoms and me. And so I just said, oh, let's go with Megan Clifford. And she goes, hey, I was a make-a-wish kid. I was a make-a-wish kid. And I came on a set of Smallville 16 years ago.

And she started telling me, you know, how changed her life and how nice I was, how nice everyone was. And it was just an emotional thing. So I posted it on an Instagram. It's a wonderful story. midst all the horror out there. But have hope, man. I think one of the thing that gets annoying is how many people are, you get these articles every day, right?

We get these articles like, oh, check this out. They said that this is going to happen. Oh, look at this. Some guy's got a cure in Albuquerque. Oh, and it just goes on and on it. It's so much that you're just like, and then you do it too. You find some morsel of hope that, hey, someone's going to have a cure. And I think they're working.

I think they are getting close. And I think we should have hope. And it's good to have hope. and um you know it's just important to just love each other love the shit out of each other and you know what i love this guy michael rooker walking dead henry portrait of a serial killer um gardens of the galaxy one and two uh i got to work with him he's wonderful he's intense he's hilarious uh you got to check him out let's get inside of michael rooker it's my point of you you're listening to inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum

Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum Was not recorded in front of a live studio audience So, and you're married, yeah, you've been married for how long? She won't watch this, don't worry. I don't know if I've been married, man. Ryan? You know, have you done some research?

I have, um, you know what to guess? Is this something? know. Oh, geez. How have you been married? Well, you have a grandkids, so I'm guessing you probably have been married 48 years. You already knew. What a chump. No, I didn't know. Is that true? Is that it? Yeah, about that. 38 years, it's about right in that area. Yeah. Your wife probably, what's her name? She doesn't like to be talked about. Talked about. Mrs. Rooker? Is that safe to say? that's right mrs ricker does she she knows you so well that she probably just like she doesn't even like

does she call you out on shit you just seem like someone i i've known you a while i've known you while i've seen you you're fun you're always spontaneous you're always up to no good but you got a big heart but i'm just saying someone who's married to you something like she doesn't she doesn't call me on i mean uh on what you know does she ever say you're like she says she thinks i'm crazy when i want to drive all the way across country. That's what I was getting to. To pick up a rifle. Oh, a rifle.

To pick up a truck. To pick up a new, a new bow. Is this something you do? Is this something that you will go for, you'll take a flight somewhere or drive hours or to pick up something you like? That's right. Well, I worked for a UPS at one point in time. How old were you when this happened?

This is before Henry. I know. I know. You're a good truck driver. I drive. I'm a good driver. I like driving. I can drive for many hours.

What is it about driving that you love so much? There's got to be something. Yeah, I'm by myself. That's what it is, isn't it? Yeah. Because I notice, like, when you go to these cons or when you're on set, everybody's, like, focused on you. You're full of energy, full of life.

Yeah, but, yeah, when you got your downtime, you get your downtime. So driving was a nice, nice break, cool, just. chill out on your own you know stop when you want to stop you know where do you stop truck stops do you see a hearties it's hardies still exist dude hardies is a big company

I think it became Carl's Jr. though they still exist would it would no it did not I think it did right did it really no I think they both exist as one yeah I think it's Hardy's like once you cross the middle of the country oh part of that chain yeah yeah right

but what you say truck stops you stop What do you do at a truck stop? It's just so you get some water, you stretch your legs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then you stop at your hotel and choose a hotel. You're not a fancy guy. You stay at like what? The night's in.

Well, there's not a lot. There's not a lot on the high. Choices. There's not a lot of choices. There are more choices than you would think. La Quinta. La Quinta is a fancy place, isn't it? Sounds fancy.

Holiday Inn Express. Holiday Inn. Um, you, uh, best westerns, um, uh, turn the light on, you know. What's that one? Motel 6. Motel 6. We'll leave the light on for you. Oh, baby. Motel 6. Turn the line on. What? Do you try to save a buck? Because you're a guy who has a lot of money. You've been working in the industry a long time. I always try to save a buck. Obviously, you went to Wisconsin.

Yeah. You just blew to Wisconsin to save 10 grand on a beautiful truck, which is parked, uh, filling up, uh, three driveways outside. Pretty much. It's a huge truck. It's, it's, it's, you know, what? It's, it's, it's, you know, what? Well, I have an airstream, so I'm going to tow this airstream. And the airstream is an old style airstream that's all the silver roundish ones. All deck down now, all buffed down. It's beautiful, and it's looking new, and it's very cool. And if I'm going to, and if I ever have it towed, or if it's ever towed,

it's going to be by me. Because I'm tired of other people breaking my shit. okay who breaks your shit all the teamsters when they drive my trailer to and from sets but that's not your trailer no that's my trailer they've rented my trailer oh so they pay you to use your airstream that's right and so these teamsters on whether it's guardians of the galaxy suicide's going I'm not pointing anyone out it's just several movies that I've done in the past I've had this thing for 28 years they don't take care of it well they try to take care of it but sometimes crap falls off the back of the truck hits the way you know I got to get it

I got to get it fixed almost every movie that I took it on I had to get it fixed do you make the studio paid for it well they have well they pay for it they don't argue about that you know okay you it's insured and all that stuff now what's the first thing you do when you're on set you go who's the head of transpo here Al come here for a second don't scratch my stuff is that do you do I picture you making a point you go Al this is my air stream i've had i know you're going to say you're going to take care of but in the past this thing's gotten aft up so i'm asking you to take extra precaution i do i do is it getting better and they will and they do you know but accidents happen so you're expecting this airstream to get

fucked up usually when it yeah but when you tow it it's fine when i tow it it's going to get totaled properly when you i did see that now i've told it before on on a very, in a truck that was way less truck than I needed to tow it. Right. And it was not fun. So this time when I bought a truck, I bought a truck that's, you know, it's enough truck. It's enough truck. It's built to tow that and pull that with no problem.

Does Mrs. Rooker go with you on any trips to camp? Do you camp, you camp, right? Sometimes. She'll camp with you. Now, this was only for business. Right, for business. But what do you, do you go camping? I never used it for camping.

So for camping, what do you do? Just rent a tent, you buy a tent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I would take this now. To the woods, park in some place, yeah. Are you someone who could, like, if you're left in a jungle or left in the woods for like a week, you could get by? If I were left in the woods for a week. You know, like these shows they have, they have naked and afraid.

Obviously, you wouldn't be naked. Well, naked and afraid is not my show. No. What's the other one? Survival. Or the Middust? Survivor. Survivor.

Right. Could you do that if you were on a show? Is that the cat with the blonde hair and the, he's got the knife on his. I think that's the Beast Master. I don't know. I don't know. But do you remember the Beast Master? That was a good movie.

I like those shows. You know, they're smart shows. Do you think you could do it though? Do you look at them go, I could fucking do that. These idiots, I could do that. Well, yeah, I played. I lived in the woods all my life practically. Where did you live again?

Not Georgia. Alabama. Yeah. About half my life, Alabama. The rest was in Chicago. You can start a fire. right away. I can start a fire.

How would you do it if you didn't have a lighter? If you didn't have a lighter, you would be prepared. Okay, first off, you would be prepared. If you ever found yourself unprepared, then you're in trouble. And you could, yeah. It's still possible. You know, it's still possible with friction. And if you have cord, take your shoelaces off, you tie the little thing on the thing with

the stick and you rub it and you rub it. until friction happens and you have dry good stuff, you know, from bark or something under, some kind of underbrush that's dry. Hopefully it's not raining. You're in big trouble if it is. And even with that, you can still find stuff. I would love to see a show called Camping with Rooker. You just out there with other idiot celebrities, but you know how to survive.

Out there with nothing. Could you imagine you're out there with me trying to show me how to do shit? Merle Dixon was That was like my Home Away from Home character Merle Dixon could do anything in the woods survive fine food

whatever he needed to do shelter of some kind and that's kind of basically what I could do. You can do those things. It's funny you bring up that I wasn't going to bring this up but it was all over the place

and I know you could But it's all about being prepared Yeah anything is. If you go into the world, woods without a pistol yeah you're an idiot a pistol a rifle pistol whatever you a knife a bow something to protect yourself well not necessarily to protect yourself but to uh to if you need to hunt or something like that you can but it's also for uh you know we're not head of the food chain out there though right you know in case you didn't realize that yeah we could

get eaten oh sure easily have you ever been attacked by an animal Yeah, I was attacked by a terrier once. A dog? A dog, yeah. Like a vicious dog? It bit my thigh. Did you have to take care of the dog? I chased it two blocks while its owner was chasing me yelling, don't kill my dog, don't kill my dog.

He bit you good. He bit me. I'm bleeding. I'm bleeding. Did you have to go to the doctor right away? You're like, hey, I could have something here. No, no, no. His dog, I knew the dog and I knew him.

Did he calm you down? Well, no, I calmed myself down because I got exhausted. The dog ran all the way home. I didn't, I'm not going to chase it all the long. Now, with you, do you feel like, okay, so this dog bit you, you seem like a guy that, you know, you're calm, you're cool, you're whatever. But if something happens, snap. I was still calm. You get snapped, though, can't you?

I was still calm. I was still very cool. When the dog bit me, he jumped up, bit me. Right in the groin, groin area. Yeah, yeah, dude. Landed on the groin. ground, looked up at me again. I looked down at it. I didn't say anything. And it took off. It knew. It read my mind. Fear. It knew.

Fight or flight. He saw in my eyes. He smelled my intention was to take it and smash it upside the building somewhere, you know. Yeah. You're going to bite me. This is what's going to happen. But it ran away, and I'm glad it did. Because it's a cute little dog. Right, right, right. I didn't know. I really wouldn't want to hurt the dog. Now, see, what I'm thinking is when people watch you know all these movies and they, you

saw, well, sometimes. See, what are we talking about? What are we talked about so far? Your truck? Trucks. Being alone. Be in the woods. Being the woods.

But aren't you happy about that? Biting dogs. Well, look, what I'm thinking is, like, you have a, you have a temper. You're like one of those guys. Can you really have, you can you, you can lose your shit. right but can you lose your shit now because i know you meditate you do all this shit i i can get upset but you really have control sort of a controlled upset can you get out of control sometimes i get upset just for the show so you're just pretend dang great at times so you're just saying i want people

to think i'm crazy but i'm really in control of what i'm doing well i don't think that much about it but i'm very forgiving person right you know if you do something to me right and you're really sorry, I won't hurt you. What if I bite your leg? I would bite you back. You probably would. I would have. I would have bit the dog back. You would have?

Yeah. I would have picked him up and bit his little nose. How does that feel? I like that you go after the nose. Not the cheap or the tail. I'm going to bite his little nose. I eyeball him. Pick him up. Put his little face in my face.

And I go, what do you think about this? Hey, let me ask a question. All right. So you go back tomorrow because you were talking about Murrow. and how he would survive. Ryan loves this. There was posts everywhere. Twitter, Instagram, everything.

It said Merle, the reason Merle didn't come back or whatever. AMC is cheap. That was everywhere. Yes, it was. It would be great. And you love it. That was great. Were they cheap?

Of course they were cheap. Come on. Give me a break. Are you serious? Nobody got any money those first three, four seasons. And you busted your ass. You know, and we. Killed it, dude. We worked our asses off and we made that series, okay? But nobody got any money.

I mean, we got paid really basic salaries. But of course, you know, the show becomes popular and then, you know, they start paying people after that. But I don't blame them. I'd do the same thing. Why would I want to pay top dollar on a show that's not proven? And, you know, and if I could get really good actors, to do this for less money. Go for it. But after it becomes... You know, that's my producer brain thinking. But after it becomes a bona fide hit, aren't you thinking, you know, I deserve a little more money now? Well, yeah, of course.

You do. And they do. They get more money now. Right, but you could... Not the beginning ones. Right. Not the new guys. The new guys. The old... Norman and all those guys get plenty money. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you were kind of... They deserve it. They deserve it. Dude, everybody gets hurt on that show.

You know, we're running through woods jumping over logs dodging, dodging rattlesnakes. I mean, come on. You got hurt? Everything. What did you feel? What was the worst day where you're like, I hurt myself here? I never hurt myself on the show. Are you smart enough to go stunt man? I'm not doing that shit. Oh, no. I get a stunt. I get the stunt guy. But we didn't really have any stunt guys at that time. We did everything ourselves. We did all the fighting, all the rolling around in the mud and dirt and the blood and the beer and everything. And we did it all ourselves. Who did you get along with the most on walking dead?

Honestly, the one guy you're like, I like to see him, I like to talk to him, he's fun. Or her. You know, me and Norman got along just fine. And we like to hanging out and talking. I, you know, you're so, you know how it is, you're so busy. You really don't, unless you make a superhuman effort to hang out. Right. You don't hang out.

You go home, you go to your hotel, and you sleep. You're exhausted. Norman would go home without cleaning up and taking makeup off that time. So you just stink? You're so tired, dude. You just, you quit. They wrap you. You don't want to take the 30 minutes or whatever it takes to get cleaned up.

You just hop on your bike and you go and you shower when you get home. Did you notice anybody who just kind of played the part who just like, it was like, it kind of actually stinks like his character would. You know, I think we all probably were. Especially those hot days in Atlanta, right? Dude, it's hot and it's sweaty. There's nothing much you can do about it. Were you exhausted?

Do you think we're going to pass out? Like, I'm tired. No, no. I've never, I never felt that on that show at all. I, even on the rooftop when it was a 115. When, uh, with the hand, other people are getting weak and passing out.

I was just sitting there. Who was passing out? A couple, a couple of the actors. Oh, you're on the show anymore? No, a couple of the actors. Guys, girls. Both? Yeah.

Passing out. Like get him some water. Getting, get a paramedic care. Getting weak. Yeah. Almost passing out. And you were like, holy shit, people are passing out. Yeah, dude.

I kept drinking. I kept hydrating. But that doesn't help sometimes. What water? For example. I just did a movie in Fiji. Fantasy Island. I heard about that.

It's a Bloom? Yeah. Bloom House? Yep, yep. Is it good? It's good. I just saw it. It's good. I like it. Okay. And my first two, three days on that show were the hardest, most dangerous working days I had ever been, ever done on any show ever. Wait a minute. Are you kidding me? I saw that I was just watching, rewatching Sea of Love with your scene with Pacino where you're fighting. And that scene is the most intense scene that goes on. Harder than that. Oh, harder than that. I had never. felt as though I think I'm going to pass out. And that happened on Fantasy Island.

My first two days, I'm fighting this guy that's like seven foot tall, probably 280 pounds. And we're rolling around in the dirt and the gravel and on the top of a mountain. There's no air conditioning. There's, and I don't like to eat and snack like a lot of other actors will do. You need that, though, don't you? That's my mistake. I do, you do need it. Because I was, I was depleting all of my electrolytes.

I was sweating. I was drinking plenty of water. But the doctor, when he got there, was saying, look, what's going on is that you've depleted your electrolytes. Now you're drinking a lot of water. You've been drinking a lot of water. But all you're doing is, you are basically, Um, exhausting, you're, you're hydrating, you're hydrating yourself, but you are diluting the electrolytes that you still have left.

So what I needed to do, even more than drink water, was to have some sort of, uh, uh, drink with electrolytes. And that's basically what happened. And that helped? Yeah, yeah. He gave me a couple. He gave me some powdered electrolytes. I took two of those guys, half a bottle each and, and within 20 minutes.

I felt great. Well, you worried, though, like, oh, my God, am I getting old? Is something happening to me? Am I going to have a heart attack? I was like, honestly, in between takes, I would just drop to the ground. I was on the ground. People had umbrellas over me. I mean...

And it happened quickly? It happened. Yeah, yeah. It was like there was no stopping. We were working all day long in this heat. And, you know, I had had heat exhaustion. Heat struck once. where and it was in Wisconsin actually I had when you were I had heat stroke once oh not this on this show but I knew it was coming because I'd had it before and I knew wow if if we keep going like this something's going to happen what happens when you get heat stroke oh I I was standing next to my motorcycle and the next moment I'm watching my feet being drug into the

The shade. Passed out. I totally passed out. Yeah. Totally passed. I was out. The hospital? Out like a light.

Next thing I knew, I felt this weight on my chest. And somebody had dumped the cooler on my chest to cool my body down. And I felt fine after about an hour or so. But after that, it took me about a year and a half or so to get unsent, for my body to recoup and get and feel okay in the sun. it's tough it's a really bad situation so that i felt in doing the fiji show that was really hard now i'm gonna see it just to see how what you were doing what did they cut it all and it's just like one thrown like that's it yeah he had a heat stroke from that shit just got thrown down once and that was just double it was nuts it was nuts

So after that, though, I learned, learn my lesson, snack a little bit. Snack. What kind of snacks? You know, it can be nuts. Cheese, something. Snacking some nuts. Fruit, you know? Yeah.

Yeah, something like that. Take care of yourself a little. It's just anything that has some sugar, some, you know, electrolytes, and drink. Of course, hydrate. Right. But don't overhydrate. You're educating people out there. I don't know, dude.

Hey, it's serious. I'm telling you I've done so many movies and I never get hurt and, and I just keep going and going and going. There's no, I'm like the, the, the, you're a machine. Yeah. And you don't get anxiety. I don't get anxiety. I don't get tired. Never. Never.

One of the few actors that have come on here and said, yeah, just don't get anxiety. You really have never been, oh, fuck, I'm anxious. I'm nervous about something. I can't fucking get it. Oh, no, you get that? I don't get that. You don't give a fuck. No, I don't.

You really don't ever care. No, this is true. No matter what. You never get embarrassed. Other people are on the set. And they're like, oh, Rooker doesn't know his lines. No, I don't go, oh, my lines? No, I don't care about knowing my lines.

You really don't. I mean, you usually know them. But usually you know your lines. You know your stuff. So if you go up or down or inside out, in between lines, you're changing them, you're fixing them, usually. But sometimes, like when you work a gun, you don't need. to fix anything. It's just what the script says is. It's great stuff. So you learn it way ahead of time, right?

Yeah, you want to say, you want to do it because it's so well, bloody written. You want to do it the way it's written. Most scripts, and you're, you can tell me if I'm over exaggerating, but 90% of all scripts, you want to change it. It's got to be changed because it sucks. And by the way, that's the hardest to memorize lines when they're, and I was talking about it. When they're Because we're always talking about memorizing. It's the, you told me something once where it's like, didn't they have, didn't you have to, like, regulines or had those, because it was they gave you a monologue or some shit, like.

Oh, no, I just, I did this year, this past year, a TV show, um, with Mahershal Ali. Oh, you did, uh, don't say it. Detective. True detective. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.

I had two days. to learn a nine-page walk-and-talk. Obviously, that ain't happening. I mean, even for the best of us, that ain't happening. I'd probably turn that down, scared the shit out of me. No, I'm not doing that. Why are you doing that? I know.

I should have turned it down. But my friend, Sackheim, was directing it. And he said, you come and do it. And I said, okay. And I said, okay, I do a lot of things for friends that sometimes I shouldn't. But I should have said, dude, not enough time. well exactly this podcast yeah exactly you know you're not having fun here so i get i get there and it's it's it's ridiculous and we talk and i say this ain't happening come on how's that

how's this possible what did he say to you look this is going to take this this look we got to do this in one day give me a break nine pages nine pages and one day walk and talk a lot of it most of it and he said well we have this actor that does a lot of the voiceover stuff for us and he uses an ear and that's what i want to do he uses an inner ear and he said would you like to try that i said i've never done it i've heard about it of course and he said would you like to try it i said there's no other choice dude let's just do it i i'm and so i got with the uh the script lady and you weren't nervous at all no i wasn't nervous it was a challenge so i don't get it was a it was a great challenge i said all right well let's see how this

Let's see how it works. So I got with the lady in, she has an accent. So I'm like, oh, great. So she's going to be the reader. Right. So let me set it up. Okay.

So Earwig is pretty much, he has a piece in his ear if you don't know. If you're not actually, you probably know it. But you have an earwig. Brando used one. I think Robert Downey Jr. might use it every once in a while.

I want to use it. And Rooker used one. So they put in your ear and then someone reads, usually you've rehearsed it in the sense that they know your cadence, the reach of the lines, how you want to deliver them. So he was sort of on the fly, and now she's delivering them off camera on a little microphone

that's transferring the information and hearing her voice. There are no wires involved. Bluetooth, right, no wires, right? Especially if you have long hair, you don't ever see it. And so I said, yeah, let's do it. So that's the setup. So we got there, we rehearsed about an hour and a half, and then we started shooting.

Hour and a half of you with the earwig? Yeah, me and her on her own. Did it feel like it was getting there? Well, you know what? It worked great. I realized as soon as we started doing it that I had been doing this all my life. I don't have the luxury of having a person with me all the time

working and running lines. So I use a tape recorder to get the basics of my, lines right all right and it's it's just it's repetition over and over and over driving across country to your set by the time you get to the set you know your lines listening to them so what you do is you put it it's like rooker you might go I don't give a shit what you tell me I'm doing this and then there's a little blank area of the other guy's line and then your next line or whatever that's right I do it two different I do it two or three different ways I do the entire script both sides both lines yeah your line there line and then I do and then I do and then

I do a version that has that person's lines and not my lines. So you just hear them go, I don't care about that. And then so you could say, go fuck yourself. So I say my lines to myself. So I get the right timing for the, for the break, for the quiet break. Right. And then I, that's how I do it. And that's how I start out with both lines.

It depends on how long I've been with the script. Sometimes it's like two days. You get the script. You've got to be on set in four days. And stuff like that. So that's what I had been doing all my life. So when I got with the script girl for True Detective, it was like I'd been doing it forever.

Well, not only that. But this is better because you don't really imagine going on set going, I know what's happening. I just need somebody to say the lines to me and then I say them. So for instance, let me be the girl with an accent. You'll be the girl with the accident, and I'll do it. Let's do it. Okay, you go ahead.

Go ahead. Say whatever you want to say. All right. For instance, what? I don't care what you talk about. I don't care what you give a... This is the reality. This is the reality.

I don't give a fuck. I've said this again. I said this one more time. One more time, asshole. I don't give a fuck. I don't give two fucks. You can listen to my fucking dick in your fucking ear. I'm going to say, D-I-C-K, but I'm not going to say it.

But see, that's how it's done. Do, do me. Do me, see if I could do it. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? You're late. You're late. You're late.

It's too late. It's got to be almost right on top of it. Now you're getting. Now you're getting. That's how you do it, man. That's it. And then you add your own little things in there. They do the reading, you do the acting.

Don't, don't act. If there's other actors around. It doesn't matter. So they're on cue. As long as they know their lines. So your person's got to be listening for their lines to be on cue to give you the line. Well, of course. Yeah, that's how it's done. And what do you do, though? You go, let's say, uh, fucking Ryan says a line. Then I say a line. There's nothing from you. And you're

like, hey, it's not my fault. It's the person saying my lines. They didn't get. No, I don't do that. But when I, when I was there, that's, I had no other choice. And so we, we ended up, dude, we ended up, but you've seen the scene. Yeah. It's a killer scene. Killer scene. There's no way in hell you could tell. And it was, and it was, as an actor, it gave me more freedom to respond in an more, in an even more spontaneous manner. So why don't you do that? Why don't you do it again forever? I would do it again anytime.

Any role. I would do it again anytime. So why don't you just say every movie, look, I love doing this. So just have someone that can read me the lines. Well, well, that's great. I would do that. You want to hire me? I mean, look you're a movie.

Let's do a movie. Yeah. Okay, I'll do the whole movie. You can hire an assistant. What of all the actors have their own earwet person? Could you imagine how confusing that would be? That would be so crazy. That would be so crazy.

You know what's funny is, you know, if there's, if there's. No, I would do that again. I would do it again. Especially if it's a nine page thing or even a two page thing. Guess what? Save my ass. Save the production's ass. Saved time. We got through.

the entire nine pages without one flub. Were you, like, amazed by it? It's like a gift from God. It was a, it was, you know what it ends up being? Honest, honest God, it is one of the most wonderful tools in your tool chest that you could ever have that sometimes you have to draw upon. And sometimes you don't. Depends on how much time these producers and studios.

give you as an actor. So now, when someone says, hey, can you do this? And you're thinking, oh, my God, no, let me, there's too much material, not enough time. What am I? No, I'm not that stupid. And you can just say, yeah, no problem.

You lose stress. Now you can, by the way you wake up and go. I don't have to fucking memorize my lines all night. There's no stress. I could go out. And you're spontaneous. And you're giving these lines. It's real.

And you're even more spontaneous than trying to memorize. right because you're thinking it's contrived so what if for instance i'm going to do it one more time what if you're a little angry it's emotional you have to really listen to it like you know shout it's like i don't give a fuck what you're talking to me about i don't i don't want the person to do it that way you don't no i want the person to read i don't give a fuck what you say not even not even that i don't give a fuck what you say yeah and then you do the emotion yeah if you just do it normal all right okay ready i don't give a fuck what you're Give a fuck what you say.

You're a piece of shit. Mother fucking prick. So, there you go. What if you have your heart of hearing? Then you get a problem. I can't hear you. Can you turn it louder? That happens.

Sorry, have you done that? That happened. Well, no, it happened on a true detective. I would adjust the sound. While you're in the scene, turn it. But if it's too loud, then you get feedback from the other mic that, are close to you or close to the other actor. You're going to get a technical,

there's some sort of feedback, and it's not good. And the director loved what you did. Everybody loved what I did. So they were like, and everybody knew, he's going to wear your wig. Nobody knew. Nobody knew?

No, on the set? Yeah, no, people know. He gives you shit. But people who saw it had no, not even an inkling. Isn't that the key? And they loved it. Isn't that the key?

I got so many kudos. I got so many kudos from that scene. from that show and I'm telling you and I you know I don't see it as a crutch as a crutch whatsoever

I see it as an amazing tool that I got to experience and it worked I think I would do wouldn't you like to try it once try it yeah I want to live it no no if I could honestly

like hey you're shooting a movie next week we want you to come and do this scene it's three great I can do the whole movie You get me? I don't even need to prepare. I don't know. There's, there's, you got to prepare.

You got to know, of course. You got to know what happens. Well, you're going to know everything that you already do in your preparation as an actor. Yeah. You still must do. Yeah, absolutely. Albeit, when you only have two days, there's not much you can do. You know, you just have to be, your instincts have to sort of take over.

And that's, you know, as an actor, as a human being, who knows how to read and comprehend. understand what's written, you're going to get the idea. Absolutely. Okay, it should, unless it's some other really seriously multi-layered dimensional script that, why would they want you, why would they put you in a two-day situation like that? Right. So it was a two-day situation. I mean, how could they, by the way, look at Michael Rooker and think he could learn nine pages in two days?

Not, not, I know. I'm not looking at you saying you couldn't do it, but I know. Or any actor. I know. Not just Rooker. Anybody. Who could say, yeah, I can deliver Nine Pages to you.

Those people are, the people that can do that, that's one of those rarities that you just go, wow, you're fucking... I don't know. I don't, I, yeah, you know what? But then that calls into question their internal preparation. They're just repeating.

They're just like... They just have to memorize the lines. I just have to memorize. And spitting them out. This is better than that. You're not memorizing lines and spitting them out on set. You know, you are taking the line into your brain, and your brain is giving you an interpretation instantaneous, and you are, that's why I said to the reader. I said, look, you read, I act.

That's all we have to do, and we'll get through this day. Did she try that person like, don't do this? Look, it's really hard for the readers, I think, because they tend to want to help so much. that they try to help. You don't want them to help. The only help that they need to do is just to read it and read it in a natural cadence and normal.

Don't act. What if you're taking a long beat? What if you're like this? She says... They have to know what you're doing. They have to be in visual contact. It's really nice when they're in visual contact. But when they're not,

you will have to had rehearsed enough for them to know when you're going to slow down. right right and because they can you know so sally it's like this sally so after he says i am gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna i generally tell them wait 10 seconds i'm gonna take a beat here there's gonna this is this uh has to uh have its own moment okay and you'll you'll understand when i begin again so it'd be really funny if she's like she goes i know he takes a moment and then she forgets because her phone she's like and all of a sudden you're waiting there for two minutes. I was like, oh shit. No. No, no, not shit. That wasn't the line. There are people who

do this professionally and they know it's a it's a very concentrated energy and effort, especially if there's long monologues involved. If there are scenes like I had like bloody nine page walk and talk ended up being more like a four or five page, maybe a four page walk and talk. But then the rest was on that ledge. It was a great scene and it came out really good. I was great. I was actually very proud of myself that we made it. True Detective, right. And we did it. Inside, he was brought to you by CBDMD.

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And he, you know, you guys work together in Guardians, I think suicide's cool, whatever. He says, I loved your interview with Rooker the first time. because he got real he got a little you know not emotional but like and i was like really i did huh he he went on about it he doesn't know what he's talking about he doesn't know he's talking do you get now i know you had you have a grandkids how many grandkids yeah i got two girls did did you cry when they were born no at a happiness no like it's the worst question ever why would i cry yeah crying give me a break yeah geez i mean you're wife, Mrs. Rooker, has seen you, Mr. Rooker, emotional? Have you ever been emotional?

Crying? Are you a cry? No, I don't cry. You don't cry. Why? Why should I cry? I know you were a tough kid growing up. You had a lot of shit on. There's no crying here. There's no crying. We don't, we don't do no crying. Yeah, what's matter with you? Do you say that to your grandkids? We don't cry. Hey, hey, hey, stop the crying. I bet you're a lovable little. Knock off. Knock it off there. Hey, no crying. What makes Rooker's heart just open what makes his heart just he just completely melt what is it? I have none I don't have a heart shit my heart there is no there's something inside you that when something happens some you you melt it's it's one thing or two things well there's certain things when I uh you know when I

I don't know sometimes if I do charity work or whatever if I have a connection or someone I could cry I could open up a little bit yeah not not easily it's it's come out more you know Oh, you do. He's fucking with me. He's fucking with me. Oh, my God. What is it, though, look? What is it? It's everything. It's life. So it happens out of the blue? It doesn't matter. It happens whenever it happens. What's the last time it happened? You're driving from Wisconsin and your new truck, and you're like, God damn it. I cry. I cried. I got a new truck. I cry during love scenes, you know.

What scenes? Whatever scenes. When I'm watching a movie and if something's emotional, I, I, I, I blend in with the actors. And I'm there and I see it and it's emotional. And especially if it, you know, if they're doing a good job, the actors. I saw you in the premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 when Yon do dies. Yeah. And I looked over. You were like in the row in front of me because you were one of the stars and I had a small role. But I looked over and you were just, you had tears in your eyes.

I did. You did. I remember. You remember. You didn't know what I was looking at you. I just kind of looked over because I thought it was a great. moment and I looked at you to see how you were responding to your performance of yandu dying and I could see you were emotional yeah there were no tears though I didn't see tears I was a little

far away there were no tears yeah I just had some onions you know well what was going through your mind when that happened like this has been such a classic movie snack of onions is that what it was onions and nachos I was just having a few onions well what was going through your head when yandu dies You know, I wasn't really thinking too much about that when Yandu dies. I wasn't thinking about when Yandu dies. I'm Yandu in the scene. So I'm not thinking about I'm dying or anything like that.

But I was thinking of you thinking, hey, this is really the end of Guardians for me. So, no, I wasn't thinking that at all. What were you thinking? Just watching the movie? I wasn't thinking anything. You just like, this actor's great? I was just doing the scene. That was it.

Yeah. No, I meant when you're watching Yandu. Yeah. Yeah, that's what you're talking about. Yeah, you're watching the scene. You're watching Yandu. So you were just watching the movie. Yeah.

You were able to step outside and just watch yourself as an actor, play this blue character. Yeah. Although I'm a little bit, when I watch scenes and things that I'm doing, I'm always wondering, I don't know if I could do that better. I'm like, I do it as great as I. I could. That was as great as I could possibly be great at, you know? That's a great feeling.

You know? Because I normally go, wow, I could have been better. Sometimes. Oh, no, no. I have encountered times when I go, uh, that, that needed to have this instead. Or you didn't get it. You didn't quite get it. No, I never do anything ever, ever, ever that I don't get.

Right. I got to get it or why do it. okay i don't i i i i can't do that if i got to believe it or i don't want to do it so i got to take the moment take the time take whatever i need to take right to understand why i'm saying what i'm saying for example you have a glass of water yeah yeah and you're putting a drop in that glass of water and it's filling up filling up to the brim i don't say anything i don't want to say anything until that water is spilling over that's your line that's your voice as the water spills over that's when you speak you don't speak before you don't that's why i don't like to rehearse either

I don't want I don't want to do that You don't want to feel phony It loses its luster Until it's ready to go Do you hate it You hate rehearsing

I rehearsed at a certain level And that's it Hey this is where I'm going This is what I'm going to be doing I'm going to saying this And now that's it Let's move on Yeah otherwise

Does gun make you kind of talk about talking out And I don't want to talk stuff out that much I'll talk with him But I don't want to talk With the other actors Or like I'd rather you guide me while we're doing it

then to just get it all out now and then you're like, oh, this is what he's going to do or this is what I'm going to do. It'd be nice to not know what I'm going to do. Right. I don't want to know what I'm going to do. I don't want to know what you're going to do. I try my best

to not know your lines. I don't even want to know my lines. I honestly. I want my lines to be as fresh to me as they are to you when you hear them. So if I could, if I can do that, that satisfies me. Yeah. You know, as an actor, as an artist. I want it to be as spontaneous and fresh as possible.

And sometimes it's really hard to do that. It's really hard to get that, that, that, that, that approach is I don't know if I don't know what you're is that you kind of do the same thing or I don't I don't like to rehearse especially comedy I don't like to rehearse comedy yeah I just feel like you're going to lose it you're going to lose it be spontaneous I don't like it not much different than you know pretty straight drama and it's hard when other actors want to rehearse I need to rehearse this is how I want to do it and then you have to sort of go okay fuck I don't

to be a dick, but like, okay, I'm going to give it to you, but I'm not going to give it to you. I don't mind rehearsing in the early stages of just learning lines. That's what I've been, that's what you do anyway. That's fine. That's what you do anyway. But I'd rather not know how you're going to do it. Yeah. It sort of defeats that whole purpose of being fresh with me. Yeah.

I'm, what you're going to say, I don't know what you're going to say. I don't want to know what you're going to say I don't want to know how you're going to say it But what if I have a line and you cut me off Because you don't know what I'm going to say I'm like, no, I have a fucking other line dude It happens So what do you do?

Go with it. Stop being such a whiny wimp So for instance, let's say For instance I go Go with it. Yon-Doo. And then at the end of the take You can go back over and you go Oh, I missed that line But don't stop the take while it's going

So you ever that accuracy Those mistakes can be a lot of fun But have you ever heard actors say that? Oh, I've had actors stop. I've had, I've seen actors stop. Does it bother you? But I've seen actors stop because of somebody messes up. But those mess-ups can be completely golden.

They can yield such precious jewels that you would not even, can't even imagine coming out of your mouths, out of the other actor's mouth and your mouth as well. It can change the whole scene. but so what they can either keep it or throw it out go back and you can do the lines you can do it the way it's written if you want you know of course you can this was just a little flub mistake but i don't like stopping unless unless you're completely mulling yeah unless you're like completely off base wrong hey are you uh you're in suicide squad yeah right yeah are you done filming i'm done filming was it enjoyable It was great. I've never seen James so laid back when he came for Christmas and I saw him. When he came back, it just seemed like there was a calmness about him. It's all fake.

Is it just fucking fake? He's like a, he's a not. Poor guy. He's all wound up. Is that you're saying? That's all he does. Day and night, day and night. I never ever want to be a director.

That's just the hardest job ever. Because you've got to worry about everything. It's 24-7, dude. Even if you sleep, it's a miracle. Because you're constantly thinking about the other act. their scenes, the relationships, the sets, the lenses, and all kinds of crap. I was just offered to direct a movie, and now I don't think I want to have to hear you say this. Dude, it is hard.

Unless you're willing to give 24-7 all in, if you're okay with that. I directed a feature when I was the lead in. It was the biggest mistake of my life because it was just too hard. But directing it alone is enough. Yeah. Everybody was telling me, gum was like, what are you doing? Don't be the lead. I'm almost dead at the end of these fucking things.

No, it's tough. It's really, really, it's unbelievably brutal on your psyche and on your, just like, you have to deal with everybody else's problems. Yeah, you don't want to deal with that. I don't want to deal with your problems. No. I don't even want to know your problems. I don't think you want to deal with your own problems. I don't want to deal with my own problem is true, right?

Why would I want to deal with yours? Why do I want to deal with your problems and your problems? You two got a scene together. Do your stupid scene, man. I'm not going to direct you. I'm going to sit back and watch your scene. If I believe you're seen, then we'll move on. If I don't believe you're seeing, if you're giving me bullshit,

then I'm going to smack you upside the head. There you go. That's how you direct. That's how you direct. Do you think, that's my directing style? Guardians 3 is going to happen. Do you think you're going to be in it for any reason? No, why?

I'm dead. I'm dead. Well, they bring you back as a different character. My character's dead. Can you play something else? I would play something else. I would play something else. I would play something else, but I wouldn't want to, why would I want to play Yandu?

Handu had a wonderful, most amazing send-off that you would ever want in a cinematic Marvel history. My God, dude, why do you want to spoil that by bringing the character back now? Yeah. I'm with a gun. There's consequences when you die. You're supposed to stay dead. There's no consequences when you die. You're dead.

Yeah, you're dead. What the hell are you coming back for? Why are they bringing all these schmucks back? give me a break yeah i don't like that one it's like everybody's dead that's the thing i don't like about a lot of movies it's like you know everybody's older everybody dies at the end come on who's dead hey look i don't mind if everybody dies as long as i'm doing the killing that's true by the way in see of love we talked about in the beginning that scene you have to see see of love but there's a scene that's great where i couldn't believe i didn't remember but i watched it but you with pachino

you're beating the shit out of each other and you get on him yeah from behind yeah yeah And I know that you came up with this because it wasn't written. Oh, I'm going to rape him like he, I'm going to, I'm going to take his clothes off. You think he raped. I'm going to rape him and kill him. Because you think he raped someone you loved. Yeah. And you are now on top of him.

When I see this, you're not obviously your clothes, but you're beating the shit of it. And he's got him. He's beating the shit of him. And then he acts just like he's grinding him at the end. I was like, fuck, that was your choice, wasn't it? The director didn't say, Rooker, can you act like your fucking owl? You know, well, the lines give you your hints. What was the line?

Do you remember the line? The line was... What did you do to her? What did you do? Show me what you did to her. Show me how you did it. You know? And as I'm ripping his clothes off

and I'm about to rape this guy and then kill him. Boyd's brains out, right? And so in the meantime, he grabs the, the little... Tlox you in the head with that. Trophy. It clocks me in the head

and then the fights on, right? A dumbbell or something. Yeah, it was a trophy. It was a shooting trophy. And he hits me in the head, and I go back, and then we worked out with the stunt guys, and with him, we both did a lot of our own stuff. How long did that take to choreograph that scene?

And how long did it take to shoot it? It took about a day, a full day to shoot. And by the way, it was Al great to work with? Yeah, I thought he was great to work with. Was he? We understood each other really crystal clear after the first take. How so? Well, the first take, he tried choking me out.

Like, really? Like, really? Like, really. And then what'd you do? Oh, I did. what I was supposed to do in the scene, which was spin around and launch my 210-pound frame with him on my back into the wall. And you did it?

Of course I did. A little harder, a little extra hard? I did it as a way you're supposed to do it. Did you hurt him? I think we were both hurting at that point. And did he say, hey, sorry about that. No, he looked up to me after he fell from my back and his arms left my neck. He looked up at me.

He said, am I, you know, you don't see the choking too hard. Am I? He said, hey, Michael, am I choking you too hard? Am I too hard? And I go, did I too hard? And he goes, that was it? That was it. We understood each other crystal clear.

But you weren't going to stop that scene. You're like, Al Pacino's choking me and I'm not going to stop. No, no, no. Let it choke me. No, if I stopped, I would have been taken out. He would have put me. to sleep. It's the most intense scene. It sounds like a lighthearted romp. Oh, my God. Jesus Christ. I totally would have been put to sleep. I was going out. I was seeing nothing but

black, black, black, black, black. Was there any kind of conversation where you guys talk? Did you talk a lot? Did you just do your work? The only thing, we talked a little bit, but we were both into the scene. And when I was on him, on top of him, and we were in between takes, I remember him saying, uh, Rooker, could you like lighten up a little bit? Oh, yeah, yeah. That's what he said? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, because I was just resting on it.

I was like with, I was like this and I was just like waiting for the scene to be a, oh, waited, ready for it to cut again. I'm just hanging out on Al Pacino. Me an Al Pacino spooning and I'm the top guy, okay? Hey, Rooker, that's enough. And he finally goes. He goes, could you, like, let up a little bit? It was like, I was 210 pounds at that time, almost all muscle.

And I was like, oh, my God, yes, of course. Did you go to the premiere? Did you go to the premiere for it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did he come up to you and go, he's great job in there, great job. Dude, we both did a great job. It was a wonderful sequence. And it was.

But he's pleasant to work with. He knew his lines. Oh, he was great to work with him because he's known as one of the best actors in the history of. Yeah, he's great to work with. Did he always know his shit inside out? and he was just, like, his work ethic, what did you notice about that work ethic with Al Pacino? It was no different than the energy he puts into his work

was no different than the energy I put into my work or the energy that any actor would put into their work to make sure that they do it. I don't know if this is true, but my goal is to do the scene once and then move on. I wish that was the case It can be the case All you got to do is

Have three or four cameras That's what we did on the rooftop scene In The Walking Dead When I'm chained to the rooftop They had five cameras going All at the same time We did it two takes And that was it, we moved done

Yeah most of the time No matter how good you are They want another And another and another and a tighter and a tighter in a middle. You all got it in one. Right, right. You got the camera that's doing the tight.

You got the camera that's doing the wide. You got the camera that's up top. You got the camera that you got the point of view. You got the wide angle. You got all these cameras going at the same time. Right? Now, as the actor, if you can do the scene like that scene on the rooftop and do it the way it's supposed to be done.

And yet in the no, exactly where your cameras are then you're golden and that's what I did that's what I'm good at does Mrs. Rooker, you are good at it by though you're great at it.

I don't like to say that I'm a technical actor that I have but I'm very technical I can be very technical at the same time completely opposite you know raw

and in the scene and yet still know where you need to be when and where that close up camera is. And when and where I need to turn and all that. Does Mrs. Rooker ever look at you and say, she sees a movie and she goes, I thought you were really wonderful in that. Does she tell you those things?

Yeah, yeah, a lot of people do. Well, your wife, does she watch the things you do? Of course she does. Does she ever tell you anything about it? Does that mean something to you when you hear her say? She goes, yeah, you were good. That's it? That's all she says?

Come on. Your family members, do they feel like they always say, hey, yeah. I think they, you know, they respect my work. They know that I'm an artist before I'm an actor, before I'm an art, any, any other art form, any other medium, I'm an artist, no matter what. What would you do if you didn't act? I'd have a different medium. I'm an artist. All right.

This is shit talking questions from my patrons. It's on Patreon. You got patrons? Yep. These are, these are shit talking with Rosamom. These are quick, you can answer them quickly. Robert B. All my answers are quick.

Robert B. Except for all the shit that I just said. Robert B. says, do you have any favorite whiskey drink? Yeah. What? He didn't ask that. What is it if I asked? Oh, what is it?

I like Jack and Coke. I do, too. That's a southern... With two limes. I like a little Jack and Diet. A little Jack and Diet Coke. Oh, okay. I mean, just the taste, I think I got...

Jack, Jack and Coke. I like regular Coke. Two limes. And... And, yeah. Nico P. Have you always been so energetic? I don't see myself as energetic.

But I've always been like this. By the way, nobody could sleep like you. Nobody could sleep like you. You will sleep on a stett during a scene. You will fall asleep anywhere. Is that true? I can sleep anywhere anytime. I can sleep right now.

That's why you're still alive. If I close my eyes, I can go to sleep within a minute. I think you're asleep right now. I could. Jill E. What was it like working on mall rats? It was fun. Okay.

Thank you. Lisa, just wondering if he can ever look at a chocolate-covered pretzel the same way and if he still eats them. I do. I love them. What's that from? Morat. Oh, it is? It's the same thing.

The chocolate-covered pretzels when they stink palm meat. Jerry W., I'm curious what's expected of professional actors when it comes to memorize it. We already talked about that, Mesrani Lines. How many pages per date you expected to commit to memorizing for filming? We've already talked about that, Jerry W. Yeah, that's a stupid question. It's a great question, but we answer it. Darry, W., you got Rooker to say that, though.

You're going to like that. Brian H., how did you prepare for his role as Henry? We talked about this in the last podcast. Yeah, and I said, my answer was I did there was no preparation at all needed. And did the role affect you in any way? It started your career, isn't it? Yeah. I love how you looked to Ryan.

Right, Ryan. I know. Ryan's sitting here next to me, and when I say there's no preparation, have you seen the movie? No, I haven't seen it. Oh, my God, it's great. Fuck, that's what started his career. That was his break, and he was, it was scary. I love saying that to people because then they just stop.

Oh, I'm sorry. I should know that. Oh, wait a minute. And then I, then I ask, you need a ride home? Yeah. Lucas M. I loved you in Slyther, gun directed it. What is your favorite or most memorable role to date and why?

Your most memorable role. You love you in Slyther, but what's your most memorable role to date that you just love? That you're like, that's the one. I'll go down. for that's the one I love you know I I have to say that the rooftop scene in was walking dead I can't say one it's really tough that's the first one that came on first one that came to mind was that one but also the second one is the moment the moment when I take Chris Pratt's head and his face in my hands you know yeah during Guardians of

Galaxy too yeah that was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful moment. You got emotional for real. Well, you... How can you not? Yeah. You don't plan on stuff like that. I don't plan on stuff like that.

If it happens, it happens. Did you do any takes where you actually cry, where gun, wanted you cry, but then use it? I don't ever do that. If some director says that to me, I tell them, go fuck off. Don't say cry. You know, don't say anything.

I don't know what's going to happen in the scene. Ooh. Give me a break. how do I know what's going to happen in the scene? I haven't done the scene. I don't care what the script says. It says cry. It says cry on page three.

It's stupid when they do that. That's stage direction. The reality is this, I will say this, Rooker, people always try not to cry in real life. Yeah. That's what's the reality is people try not to cry. The trying is not the goal. It should never be the goal as an actor. If you, you are more apt to.

shed a tear if you try not to Tom who woke you up after the filming one tear that's all you get Rooker Tom says who woke you up after filming Yandu's funeral scene who woke you up which time I went to sleep about five or six times wasn't gone on the microphone we did about five or six takes

Michael Michael no I was I can sleep and still know what's going on that's that's crazy You can be asleep and still know what's going on. Subconsciously. Subconsciously, as soon as the cut was cut, I wake up.

As soon as he said action. He's a fucking machine. As soon as he said action, within, I don't know, 10 seconds or so, I was sleeping. Joshua H. What actress or actor you didn't know before filming Guardians impressed you the most after working with them? Somebody came to mind. Somebody came to mind.

Chris Pratt. You didn't really know him. I didn't know him. And then he blew you away. Yeah, yeah, I loved him. I loved him. He was great, a really hard worker, and, and, yeah, he did an awesome job, man. He's a star.

Janelle asks, what are your best and worst memories about filming The Walking Dead? Well, we talked a lot about that. Yeah, best and worst memories. Best memories are, you know. The camaraderie, lunch? Yeah, the lunches were hanging out. Lunches were great. The food was good.

Food was good. The bad thing goes, they were cheap and then pay you shit. The bad thing was that you were dealing with the environment. It is so hot. It is so miserable in the summertime running around dirty and filthy, you know, trying to do a scene. And they weren't that cheap. They paid what they could afford at that period in time, you know. Raj, last question.

Have you ever had any funny, crazy interaction? was Stallone between your time on cliffhanger and Guardians. Well, I remember in Guardians, too, when he was like, couldn't get the light. It was the light.

No, that wasn't even the best time. For me and him, it was me and him, I may post it. It was me and him taking selfies of each other as standing together like this. We were standing together like this,

and we're taking selfies of each other, yet it looked like we're taking selfies of ourselves. It's like our egos. were so right out there, you know. It looked as the way the angle was, it looked as if I'm taking a picture of myself and he's taking a picture of his self, but we're actually taking two selfies at the same time.

Do you want to, do you think you'll act for the rest of your life? Is that what you want to do? You think you'll act until you'll die? Like when you're 80, 90, you don't think you'll ever quit? When did you put a number on it? Well, do you think you're ever going to take the airstream and go do your thing and say, forget about me, I'm done. I've done everything.

I'm done. No, I haven't done everything. I have hardly even scratch a surface. One day, there will be someone who will hire me in a role that we not only scratch the surface, but we fucking blow it up. So you still haven't played that role? No, I have not. In your head that is so beyond, like... like you're going to have to dig deep you're going to have to i haven't played the role really henry yandu

no all these other fucking crazy roles no not even scratch the surface i don't think so do you think it's going to be a a bad guy a bad character or it's going to be an emotional is that what you're talking about you maybe a little of all that you want to do comedy i'm not a very funny guy i think you are though you'd have to pay me a lot of money to be funny you're funny right now see if you just kept this face with me right now. See, we could do mutton Jeff. You can be funny if you want, but I'm not going to be funny. But that's what's funny.

That's what's funny. So you are funny? We'll do a little stand-up if you want. Would you ever do stand-up? Go ahead. What's the one thing that scares you? Yeah, nothing? That you wouldn't do stand-up comedy, you'd do it?

You get on stage and do stand-up. You would? Yeah, sure. Swimming sharks? No, I don't swim as sharks. Would you? I don't swim anywhere where I'm not head of the food chain. Do you?

I did swim a shark. No, I didn't. I was in the cage. You know who swims with sharks? Idiots? Pretty much. Shark bait? How far do you live from me?

Because you're going to go back in your new truck. I was about 40 minutes away. And what do you listen to when you're quiet? You know, I just put the radio. I just signed up for that radio. Serious? Serious radio, yeah. The truck had, it still had about three months.

of a trial. Right. And you liked it. And but I hadn't, I didn't have it on the whole way across the country, you know, because I didn't want to stop driving to pull over and take the time, you know. I was just driving and having fun driving. You listen to country music? I listen to a lot of stuff. I listen to the country.

I like blues. I like jazz. I like, uh, I like, uh, Rosby stills and Ash. I like gospel. Really? Yeah. I like, um, uh, bluegrass. That's all Alabama ship.

I love all that stuff. All the Alabama stuff. Yeah, I love all that stuff. See, this has been great. Jeff, fun. We didn't talk about really anything that we did the first time. It's just fun. It's just two guys talking. Yeah, yeah. Is that the theme of your show here? No. Two guys talking about nothing? Two guys talking about nothing? No, it was, you know, I like this because you're, I think that should be your theme from now on. Because when you start and try to talk about something, it sounds stupid. Like what? I mean, when your other shows, The ones without me, all the other children. I knew it was coming.

I knew it was coming. Hey, by the way, you know, as you could see around here, I get autographs from some posters and shit. I like, I like, I like, oh, I have a karate kid. Do you think it's A, do you think it's weird? And B, would you- You want me to get you one? Which one would you want?

Probably Henry Portrait of a serial killer. I mean, that's where I all started. And you were Henry. I got. You have a Henry poster? I have a Henry poster for your ass. really that will blow you away it is so amazing and the designer of this poster he only did like 40 of them really yeah you'll give me one and sign it yeah i'll put it up in here i'll give you one

i'll give you one and sign it for you fuck yeah you hear that ryan do you think it's weird for actors to get autographs from other actors no i do sometimes who do you do um what do you get whoever i have time for. So who? If there's a moment in the, in the shoot that I, that I have time. But Chena, when you're on his back grinding him, did you say, hey, could I get, you know, hey, I'll give you an autograph after the scene. Give you a, I'll give you an autograph after the scene.

Did you get a picture of an autograph? Let me just finish. Oh, ha, yeah. What did you do? Did you sign? Did you sign? He didn't sign anything for you. No, God.

No, do. Stallone? That's, you don't be sick. Okay. Well, who did? Who did? We were doing a great scene. That was a great scene.

That was a great scene. That was a. scary scene dude it was intense beyond intense it was so intense that i was when i had forgotten about it uh that i was listening i was watching it and jess was on the other side on our computer going i didn't need to even see that fucking scene that's how intense it was that's what she said very very intense scene that had to be in your reel for many years very intense scene yeah so who whose autograph have you gotten i don't even do a reel anymore i know obvi you don't need one do you do a real i don't have a reel anymore i have a reel from years ago i wouldn't mind doing a reel

I like doing my reels. Because you have a lot of great stuff. I enjoyed editing my reels. You edited your reels. Yeah, I did all my editing time. So this is when I was great. I want to do this. By the way, it couldn't hurt if somebody's like,

Michael Rooker, oh, yeah, I've seen the guy. But when you put true detective a moment, you put Yon do and you put fucking, you know, not maybe I don't know about fantasy on because I haven't seen it, but, you know, maybe the outtakes where you're dying of heat exhaustion. No, I'm in Fast and Furious Nine. You know, I'm in the suicide squad. Suicide Squad.

And all these things in Henry, it's like, God, this guy could do everything. I'm hiring this guy. Yeah, you would hope. Well, that's what's happened? So what autographs? Yeah, no, I've worked a lot. I've been very, very happy and very pleased with what's been, I've been blessed at getting a chance to do. Yeah, so I, one day, maybe.

What autograph do you have at home that you asked another actor for an autograph? Name it a couple or any, any. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I got an autograph from Studs Terkel. Studs Terkel? You know, Studs Terkel? He's a writer, Chicago writer? No.

Yeah. I should know that. Remember the movie Ape Man Out? Yeah, I love that. Yeah, he played one of the reporters. And you got an autograph from him. With John Sales, yeah. It's a great writer.

Look at his, look at... I will. I should know that. I'm pretty ignorant with a lot of things. Yeah. But so you would get an autograph. He's not an actor. Do you wish you would have had Pacino's autograph?

Or no. you know what I don't I actually honestly don't think a lot about it and then once the movie's over and then I said oh man I should have gotten an autograph like how about you know I should have had the whole cast sign of guardians poster yeah they do that you know you can get that though don't we do that we do that yeah but why don't you get one you know it's funny they always promise if they're going to get you one and they never do by the way let me tell you something you can get yourself an autographed guardians poster you can yeah how do you want me to just get you one where are you going to get it i'm going to call the director of the movie who's one of our best

does he have some story i'm sure someone's going to have a poster they'll give it to you that's signed everybody and you put it in your uh i don't have one all right i'll get you a henry i'll get you at henry you get me a guardian's one of the lead roles one of the biggest roles in guardians i'm going to get him a poster of his own movie i love you thank you for coming here today thank you for allow me to be inside of you again. Good deal. Amazing interview. I really love talking to the guy and he's a lot of fun.

I have to remind him that I've had back surgeries because he likes to tackle me and put me in headlocks and things like that. I love going to conventions with him and seeing him there. It's just a, he's with, like I am with my fans, very affectionate and loud and fun and just vocal. He is that way. And so we have a lot of fun together. And like, we meet up with Sean Gunn, my good buddy Sean.

all right let's give a shout out real quick to the top tier patrons before that i'd like to tell you that hopefully if this is all good by october well july 2nd remember austin north door back-to-back live podcast inside of you zach levi's the guest hopefully that continues that will be on july second if all is said and done all as well and then um so much else i mean there's a lot of conventions if those come back later in the year and um what else else I want to share with you. Oh, I'm still planning on doing Camp Rosie. I know I've said it. There's no links out there, but there's not going to be many tickets, but it's Halloween weekend, October 30th, October 31st, those two nights. It's like you're at summer camp. You are at summer camp,

but you're an adult. And there's costumes at night, costume parties. We have a Halloween one, of course. We have 80s. We have a DJ. We're going to have it's all you could drink, all you could eat for the weekend, including free stuff, healthy stuff, along with kickball, dodgeball, capture the flag, all that stuff. It's going to be so much fun. My friends will be there. So make sure you're on top of it and check with my social media and listen to the podcast. Because once that link goes up, you know, there's only going to be like 150 tickets. And I guarantee 50 of them are going to be my friends.

And another 50 are going to be my patrons. And the other 50 are you. I don't know who I was doing right there. Macho Man Savage. Here are the top tier patrons. I couldn't do this show without them because right now they're soon. They're supplying the goods. They're, they're, amidst this tough time.

You like the word amidst, but they're, they're pledging money. They're helping out the podcast. Their choice and they've decided to do that, which is wonderful. So I appreciate that. So check out patron if you haven't. Here we go. Allison L. Andrew C. Angelina G.

Barry I. Barry I. You've been around. I always F your name up because I see this one line. I. It's I. It's Barry I.

If it's not, you're going to hate me. All of a sudden I see deleted patron. Barry I or Barry L. Bob B. Bob R. Bortex. Brian H. Chris. C.J. P.

Emily K. Emily S. Hamsa B. Jake M. Jason D. Jason W. Jennifer S. Hi, Jennifer S.

Jerry W. Jerry. Jill E. Joshua D. Catherine M. Kevin R. Kimberly E. Lauren G. Leah S. Or Lee, whatever you want, Sister Christian. Mark A. Melissa R. Mike E. Nancy D. Neal W. Nico P. Raj. I got to talk to Raj and Instagram live. He's got more toys than I do. Ream. I'll ream you out, man. Robert B. Robert B. Samantha M. Saravi. Stacey B. Tabitha, Tiana, Tricia. Vanessa in the sky. and yours truly everybody You Kiko

I love you Kiko What am I doing? You know what else I'm doing? If you go on Zoom They have this thing Where you can share the screen And I like to With all my friends

Show them an old My favorite clip from SNL They could show me funny stuff And we kind of share it And by the way Tweet me and Instagram me Any movies or documentaries I should watch horror

I like horror But I've probably seen it all There was a movie I saw called The Platform Did you guys see that? Platform Really good on Netflix, so it's free if you have Netflix.

Well, I guess you're paying it monthly, but. Anyway, I can't thank you guys enough for the support you've given me for this podcast. And anything you could do, remember, the podcast is free. So anything you could do if you're enjoying it and you get something out of it, these guests open up. They talk about their anxieties, their depressions, all these things that are so important. I'm going to try and get some health people on here. And what do you guys think?

I mean, I'm going to have to Zoom some guests soon if this keeps going, because I have a couple more guests. in the can, as they call it. But what do you think? We would just still watch it if it was on Zoom. I mean, it would be on this. Still on the YouTube channel and Spotify, but I'd have to zoom some guests.

But I get to, that's it matter. You listen to Jensen Eccles. He was on there. So there you have it. But I love all the support. Thank you so much. And a big shout out to, a random shout out to Brandy Eadie,

who does all my merch. I think I'm wearing it right now. Yeah, left on Laurel hat. She made the hat. She makes a lot of the shirt. She does a lot of stuff. stuff and I couldn't do it without her. It's the inside of you online store.

You can get left on Laurel merch and inside of you merch. We're coming out with new t-shirts, too, that I'm designing or I'm having this guy design. If you like the blue ones, we're trying to do something different. Again, I don't know what to say. Thank you for the support. I love you all. Keep tuning in. Please tell your friends, force them to watch it, grab their phone, subscribe.

You know, got to keep this going, man. I really love it. And I hope you do. So thank you for allowing me to get inside all of you. And I miss Ryan. I miss him sitting here right now. If you could see it, it's just a pair of cans. That didn't sound right.

It's a set of cans. That didn't sound right either. It's headphones that are resting on this couch. So get over it. That's about it. I love you so much. Thank you. I mean it.

Be safe. Be healthy. Be happy. Laugh. Be busy. Exercise. All right. I'm fuck.

I'm going to fuck off now. Thanks. Hi, I'm Joe Sal C. Hi, host of the Stackin' Benjamin's podcast. Today, we're going to talk about what if you. you came across $50,000. What would you do? Put it into a tax-advantaged retirement account.

The mortgage. That's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this addition that we're adding. $50,000, I'll buy a new podcast. You'll buy new friends.

And we're done. Thanks for playing everybody. We're out of here. Stacking Benjamin's, follow and listen on your favorite platform.