Actor Michael Rooker, who plays Merle Dixon on AMC's The Walking Dead, describes getting into fighting shape for his character's return and shares the name he coined for his prosthetic apparatus.Q: It's been a nearly a year since you were on the show. Did you have to do anything to shake the rust off Merle?
A: I had already developed the character in Season 1, so that part was no effort at all. I wanted to lose a little weight, you know, so I concentrated on that kind of thing. Eventually I had dropped maybe 30 pounds. It was good preparation. A friend of mine timed the amount of screen time that I had before this season: It ended up being only about seven and a half minutes! So those minutes solidified that character in every fan's mind. It's pretty damn cool to think that something that just came from the page, this character, Merle, now has a life of its own.
Q: How eager were you personally to see Merle's return?
A: It was brutal! I'm a big fan of the show. It was just like how long are they going to play this out? It's like, "Guys make your mind up and let's get it on!" Finally they made the decision and I was like thank goodness. It was about time, in my opinion!
Q: Do you keep anything off set that helps you think of Merle?
A: I think it would be fun to have one of Merle's apparatuses just to put in a case and have. It's very cool the way they designed it; it's not like a modern prosthetic. It was designed after something an amputee had around the turn of the century -- a soldier. They found photos and images of this apparatus that this person had built for himself, so that he could continue to fight after he lost an arm and have one arm as a lethal weapon. It's like holding your sword in your hand.
Q: What was it like having to act with the stump?
A: It's not a stump; that's little Merle, you gotta watch how you talk about it! It's fitted to my arm. We built it so that it fits like a glove.
Read more
