He’s Not About to Steal the ‘Thunder’

He is the other guy in “Days of Thunder.”

And that means while big star Tom Cruise hypes the new movie with an appearance on “The Arsenio Hall Show,” Michael Rooker does his bit by standing in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant here that is giving away “Days of Thunder” cups and caps.

“It’s better being the other guy than being just one of the guys in the movie,” says the co-star of the film, which opened Wednesday.

Michael Rooker, 35, is used to taking the smaller, more interesting roles--like Ellen Barkin’s deranged ex-husband in “Sea of Love” and the redneck guy whom Gene Hackman kicks in the groin in “Mississippi Burning.” Ouch.

In “Days of Thunder,” he plays Rowdy Burns, a stock-car racer and rival of Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise), with whom he eventually becomes friends.

Everybody’s always asking him for the lowdown on Cruise. He tells them: “Tom’s a really normal, nice guy. First time I walked on the set, I hadn’t seen any of his films, and he just flashed that smile at me, and I flashed mine, and we got along fine. . . . I felt I had known him forever.”

Born in Alabama, Rooker grew up in Chicago, studied acting at the prestigious Goodman School of Drama and worked on the stage before landing a small role in the 1982 film “Streets of Fire.” He’s been working steadily ever since, attracted to offbeat roles.

For now, he’s playing the role assigned by the publicity people: the not-quite-star talking up his new movie on local radio shows and signing autographs in fast-food parking lots, where the car he drives in the movie is on display.