Chris Pratt & Michael Rooker On GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY’s Rocket Raccoon

Guardians of the Galaxy leader Chris Pratt, who plays Star Lord, and all round bad-ass Michael Rooker, who plays Yondu, are shedding a wee bit of light on Rocket Raccoon, the oddest creature in Marvel’s first real space opera. A glunslinging, talking raccoon will be voiced by Bradley Cooper, and director James Gunn has said the smart-ass animal is the heart of the movie. The film recently wrapped principal photography, also starring Zoe Saldana as the deadly Gamora, Dave Bautista as burly former human Drax the Destroyer, and Vin Diesel voicing the monosyllabic tree-being Groot, along with Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Benicio Del Toro as The Collector, Karen Gillan as Nebula, John C. Reilly as Rhomman Dey, and Glenn Close as the leader of the Nova Corps. Here’s what Pratt had to say about Rocket Raccoon:

[Rocket Raccoon has been] tortured his whole life and no one else likes him, so he’s lonely and he’s angry and it’s like, [there are] all these elements [to the character]. You sort of forget about that, you wouldn’t think about, [and] hopefully will come to life. I think it will and that’s why they hired a really good actor to do the role. I could not be more excited that Bradley Cooper is voicing Rocket Raccoon, it’s a great character. It’s probably the best character in the movie, just because it’s not what you would expect.

Rooker also had some comments on how his character Yondu Udonta feels towards Rocket:

Rocket and I don’t get along, he’s a bit abrupt and brash for my taste. I probably have a little Merle in me still, because I would roast him over an open flame and eat him for supper!

The film, which will introduce audiences to a whole new side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, opens August 1st, 2014. Check out the footage of the next epic adventure from Marvel Studios shown at Comic-Con 2013 and leaked online in bootleg version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNilngsgKzU#t=17