‘The Walking Dead’ Star Michael Rooker Says The Cast Smells As Bad As They Look – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

The world of The Walking Dead is far from glamorous. The survivors of the apocalypse have to make camp and barricade themselves safely from the walkers. Then, of course, everywhere they look there are living dead zombies roaming around. Very few scenes show the characters bathing or doing laundry, and nobodys making new clothes. Former Walking Dead star Michael Rooker said its even worse live on the set.

Rooker played Merle in the first three seasons of The Walking Dead. He was a guest on Michael Rosenbaums Inside of You podcast on April 7. While they were discussing his stint on the show, Rooker revealed the ugly, stinky truth about The Walking Dead.

The apocalypse of The Walking Dead is Hollywood magic. They film in modern day Georgia which is very non-apocalyptic. All the dirty from wandering and battling zombies is makeup. Still, after a day of working, its caked on pretty good and the cast dont bother to clean up.

You know how it is, youre so busy, Rooker told Rosenbaum. You go home, you go to your hotel and you sleep. Norman [Reedus] would go home without cleaning up and taking makeup off. Youre so tired, dude, you quit. They wrap you. You dont even 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. I did that many times.

If you were living in The Walking Dead, youd have to get used to the smell of dead, decomposing bodies all around. Fortunately, those are KNB makeup creations, so they only smell like latex and spirit glue. However, working outside in the Georgia heat all day, theres no way around human sweat and odor.

Its hot and its sweaty, Rooker said. Theres not much you can do about it.

Rooker wouldnt name names, but he indicated that other actors had a harder time with the conditions on The Walking Dead.

I never felt that on that show at all, even on the rooftop when it was 115 [degrees], Rooker said. Other people are getting weak and passing out. I was just sitting there. A couple of the actors [were] getting weak, almost passing out. I kept drinking. I kept hydrating.

Rooker worked on the Fantasy Island movie in Fiji. That sounds much more luxurious than the humid south plus caked on dirt and old, ratty clothes. Rooker discovered he was vulnerable to heat there, although he didnt complain about any smell.

I had never felt as though I think Im going to pass out. That happened on Fantasy Island. My first two days, Im fighting this guy whos like seven foot tall, probably 280 pounds. Were rolling around in the dirt, in the gravel, and the top of a mountain. Theres no air conditioning. I dont like to eat and snack like a lot of other actors do. Thats my mistake. You do need it because I was depleting all my electrolytes. I was sweating. I was drinking plenty of water. The doctor, when he got there, was saying, Whats going on is youve depleted your electrolytes. Now youre drinking a lot of water but you are diluting the electrolytes that you still have left. What I needed to do even more than drink water was to have some sort of drink with electrolytes. Thats basically what happened. He gave me some powdered electrolytes, I took two of those guys, half a bottle each and within 20 minutes I felt great.

See the original post:
'The Walking Dead' Star Michael Rooker Says The Cast Smells As Bad As They Look - Showbiz Cheat Sheet