One of the many things fans wonder about Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of Rocket Raccoon in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is how he actually does the voice-over. There had been many allegations that the studio could have been using artificial intelligence technology to voice the character, which the actor immediately disproved.
Rocket Raccoon is one of the main stars in the Guardians of the Galaxy, a hot-tempered mercenary and weapons expert who possesses enhanced abilities such as an acute sense of smell and sharp eyesight. He is also a fan-favorite character.
Bradley Cooper Debunks Rumors On Rocket Raccoon’s Voice
While speaking via The Howard Stern Show, actor Bradley Cooper debunked major rumors about Rocket Raccoon using AI-generated voice in the movie. In fact, the American Sniper star felt very offended. When the host asked him if he used anything in his voice, he responded:
“No, nothing. They asked that about Rocket Raccoon, too. I took major offense to that.”
Cooper gave a sample voice-over of his Rocket Raccoon voice live on the podcast. The interviewer commented, “Every time I watch Rocket Raccoon, I can’t wrap my head around the fact that that’s you.” The actor remarked:
“Unless they’re lying to me, they have not augmented it at all.”
He also shared that he did not have any preparation ritual; he would just go into the studio and commence recording. He further shared:
“I’ve read the script. I go in there. I think it’s been a decade-long process from the first to this, and by the end, James Gunn and I realized the best thing is we do it like a play instead of watching anything. He reads all the other characters, and I play Rocket, and that’s how we do it the first round, and it’s really wonderful.”
The A Star is Born actor noted that he had fun voicing the character as much as he enjoyed improvising some of his lines:
“After that, all gets laid in, then we just keep honing it or working on other things or improvising. It’s fun to improvise off of characters who have already said something that they can’t change so that Rocket can really have a field day.”
Surely, Rocket Raccoon is a character that would speak his mind without holding anything back, and this only perfectly works when the actor is doing improvisation.
Bradley Cooper Felt Emotional While Playing Rocket Raccoon
Bradley Cooper has frequently professed his love for playing Rocket Raccoon. He admitted finding some sort of connection with the character from his own experience in life. He told Howard Stern in the same podcast interview:
“I loved it. I loved Rocket. I actually cried like crazy watching it, and when we did it, there’s a scene where he loses his friend and the sound that Rocket makes, the only thing that I could even relate it to is the sound I remember hearing my own voice when my dad passed away. There’s something that you hear, and I remember when we did it in the sound stage, I think there was some deep truth to the sound that came out of my mouth, and I think that moment in that movie is kind of like holy sh*t.”
While others were not convinced that it was Cooper really voicing Rocket Raccoon, the Oscar-nominated star only proved how incredible his talent is in voice acting.
