Bradley Cooper talks playing beloved Rocket Raccoon in MCU: ‘Cried a lot’

Bradley Cooper loved playing the beloved Rocket Raccoon in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films since it first began with Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2014.

Cooper, who holds a special place for the animated racoon, reflected on the character’s story line in a Q&A at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, where he was awarded outstanding performer of the year for his work in Maestro, via People Magazine.

“I love Rocket Raccoon so much,” he told the crowd. “And I love doing that third one [Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3] because [that's] when James [Gunn] told me what was going to be the origin story. I just got so excited that I cried a lot.”

The actor, 49, praised Gunn for the experience he had making the film.

“It’s the greatest, and James is wonderful, and we would do it like a play, actually.”

He continued, “And we were trying to figure out how best to do it because I do the voice after the movie's already been shot, and first they would show scenes, and then eventually James would just read all the other parts, and we would do it like a play, and it was actually really fun.”

Talking about his character in the third and final movie of the MCU franchise, he said, “It just kept on giving. Couldn’t believe it. We made the first one. We'd never in a million years think I would play it for over a decade. It's crazy.”