Merle is not insane. He is an asshole but definitely not insane. Big difference.
I was nervous approaching Michael Rooker for my interview. This was Henry Lee Lucas, the unfeeling, no conscience killer in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. This was Merle Dixon, the redneck racist that was so nasty that he cut off his own hand when he was left chained on a roof top in The Walking Dead.
I was shaking when I shook his hand. Only two inches taller than me at 5′ 10″, I felt like he was seven feet tall. He didn’t smile or anything. He stood military style with his legs spread and arms behind his back. He wore a black baseball hat that cast a menacing shadow across his eyes, making him appear even more frightening…