When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit theaters earlier this summer Yondu‘s “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all” line became instantly iconic and while actor Michael Rooker didn’t write the line, he’s taking credit for its iconic status.
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During a high energy Q&A panel at Salt Lake Comic Con this weekend, a fan asked Rooker if he had any improvised lines in the film, specifically the Mary Poppins one. Rooker explained that there wasn’t any improvising, but even though the line was scripted it was his “genius” that brought it to life.
“You know, that does seem like that’s improvised but it’s not,” Rooker explained. “James Gunn wrote that line. And I was the genius that made it sound real. Don’t get me wrong, James Gunn was genius in writing the line but, you know, I have to stand up for the actors.”
Rooker also pointed out that not every good line comes out well even with good acting, but that his Poppins exclamation been one of the lucky ones.
“Sometimes they don’t come out really good but sometimes they damn well do,” Rooker said.
The Mary Poppins line was immediately embraced by fans of one of the most memorable moments of the film with the line quickly taking the cultural zeitgeist by storm and appearing on thousands of memes and fan art. Many fans assumed the line was improvised, but writer and director James Gunn explained last month that the line was a late-add to the film after a specific scene was lacking in heroics.
“When I was visualizing the scene, it didn’t look quite as heroic as I intended it to be,” Gunn told The Hollywood Reporter. “So, I put the Poppins line in Peter Quill’s mouth. And Yondu, of course, not knowing the name Mary or Poppins, might think he’s sort of a Lee Marvin type, and he owns it.”
It’s a line that Rooker continues to own even though his time as Yondu appears to be over. Rooker closed out his panel by shouting the line as he left the stage.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.
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