James Gunn's latest movie The Suicide Squad reunites him with two of his frequent collaborators, Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion, but why does he always cast them in his movies? James Gunn has taken over the realm of superhero movies with projects from the two biggest superhero universes in the genre: the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC’s Extended Universe, sharing his mastery in building compelling characters, exciting stories, and with a touch of comedy that has become unique to him. However, before he took part in these connected universes, he wrote and directed movies from different genres, and they all have two actors in common.
Gunn’s career in film began when he wrote the script for Tromeo and Juliet (where he also served as associate director), after which he went on to write the scripts of The Specials, Scooby-Doo, Dawn of the Dead, and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. His directorial debut arrived in 2006 with the horror-comedy Slither, starring Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, and Michael Rooker. Gunn’s next project as director was Super, a black comedy superhero movie that introduced the audience to The Crimson Bolt (Rainn Wilson) and his sidekick Boltie (Elliot Page), marking his first work as director in the superhero genre. Then came the biggest projects in Gunn’s career to date: Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and The Suicide Squad, and what all these movies have in common is that they all count on the presence of Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion.
After starring in Slither as Grant Grant (the man who becomes the host of an extraterrestrial parasite) and Bill Pardy (the town’s police chief), Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion have appeared in all movies directed by James Gunn, including those from the MCU and DCEU. In Super, both Fillion and Rooker had smaller roles, with the former playing the superhero The Holy Avenger and the latter playing Abe, one of Jacques’ (Kevin Bacon) henchmen. Next came Guardians of the Galaxy and Vol. 2, where Rooker famously played Yondu and Fillion had small, hidden appearances: first he voiced the Blue Alien Prisoner, and then he played Simon Williams/Wonder Man in the sequel, but the scene was cut. Last but not least is The Suicide Squad, where Rooker played Savant and Fillion played T.D.K, both part of the first Task Force X team, whose mission didn’t go as expected. Gunn, Rooker, and Fillion clearly have great chemistry, which is the main reason why Gunn has cast them in all of his movies.
Speaking to BuzzFeed in 2014, Gunn and Rooker opened up about how they met and all their projects together, as at the time they were promoting Guardians of the Galaxy. Rooker and Gunn met when the former auditioned for Slither, and they became fast friends after that, with Gunn adding that they “see each other a couple of times a week”. Gunn also shared that he has cast Rooker in all his projects because he likes to surround himself with people he really cares about in order to have “some amount of affection around you” while filming, though he later added that it’s also because Rooker is “a madman”, with Rooker explaining he “sees things differently”. As for why he also casts Nathan Fillion in all his movies, Gunn hasn’t opened up about it as he did about Rooker, but it surely is for the same reasons: wanting to surround himself with people he cares about while filming all of his projects. Of course, there’s also the undeniable chemistry between the three of them, which can be easily seen even if their roles are as small as they were in The Suicide Squad or Super.
There’s no reason to believe Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion won’t keep appearing in James Gunn’s movies in the near future, though that could be a bit tricky in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as Yondu died in the previous movie, but Gunn always finds a way. Whether they will take the lead roles in future James Gunn movies (as they did in Slither) or not is unknown, but they will surely be given fun characters to play as they have through all these years.