‘The Suicide Squad’ Star Michael Rooker’s Savant Costume Was Actually More Restrictive Than His ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Yondu Costume
If James Gunn is directing The Suicide Squad you know he’s going to cast Michael Rooker. Rooker was in Gunn’s Slither, Super and both Guardians of the Galaxy films. For his DC Comics entry, Gunn cast Rooker as Savant. Savant has the same skin color as Rooker, as opposed to Yondu’s blue skin, but Rooker still transforms into the character.
Rooker spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by Zoom on July 18. He compared his Savant costume with his Yondu costume, and Yondu actually won. The Suicide Squad is in theaters and on HBO Max Aug. 6 with early previews Aug. 5 in both formats.
Michael Rooker didn’t mind being blue in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Yondu the Ravager kidnapped Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) when he was a kid. Every day on Guardians of the Galaxy films, Rooker would get into makeup, but he liked it.
“Actually, Yondu’s costume was really great,” Rooker said in comparison to his Suicide Squad costume. “The painting blue, I got very, very used to that. The people who did it over in London did a great job. They set the template up and then when we did the second one over here, the folks over here, LuAndra [Whitehurst] and my other guy there, they’re a team, a good team and they cut off maybe 45 minutes of putting it on and maybe 30 minutes taking it off. It was an ordeal but that costume I felt was more flowing and I liked it. I liked it a lot.”
‘The Suicide Squad’ held Michael Rooker back
The Suicide Squad introduces Savant in Belle Reve prison when Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) recruits him for a mission. He sports a long haired wig and tight red spandex outfit. In the comics, Savant is a computer genius and hacker, but he doesn’t get a chance to use those skills in the movie. The movie shows his pinpoint aim, but it all turns to chaos when the shooting starts.
“They were being influenced by the comic and also with the costume as well,” Rooker said. “This costume was a little more restrictive. The structure of the costume was stiffer and it was really tough to swim in and stuff like that but it ended up being okay.”
Michael Rooker could only make slight adjustments to his ‘The Suicide Squad’ costume
The Savant costume in The Suicide Squad had to do more than just look good. Rooker has a big action scene in it, on a beach and involving swimming. So, Rooker could tell the costume designers when he was having trouble.
“The only influence I had was on what felt good, how we’ve got to adjust, I can’t raise my arm,” Rooker said. “It took several [tries]. The costumes were very detailing and so we had to get that all right because we had to move naturally and it has to look good as well and feel good hopefully.”
