We’re now just one week away from the release of Iron Man 3 (early reactions have all been positive if Twitter is anything to go by) and HeyUGuys sat down with James Gunn to talk about the final stop before The Avengers 2 – Guardians of the Galaxy.
In the interview, Gunn talks about Rocket Racoon, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, comparisons to Star Wars, Robert Downey Jr and Michael Rooker’s involvement as well as the casting rumours of Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista.
“In terms of a lot of stuff we’re very much like The Avengers, where it’s a very big, huge movie” he told the website, “It’s different because it’s cosmic, it’s in outer space, it’s very colourful. We have a whole history of science fiction behind us that we’re dealing with, and borrowing from, and also fighting with to create something unique. But at the same time there’s a lot of stuff it has in common with The Avengers.”
When the conceprt art was first released to the Internet a few weeks back, the movie got a lot of comparisons to Star Wars – in particular a shot of a bar which looked a lot like Mos Eisley – however Gunn doesn’t think they are similiar. “I do think we’re very, very different from Star Wars. Some of the concept art that came out is under my tutelage, and some of it is before my tutelage. The concept art that came out is only stuff that was on the big Marvel collected disc set, talking about phase two and it had some stuff from Guardians.”
Easily the most popular character in Guardians of the Galaxy is Rocket Racoon, something Gunn seems to very aware of. Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis (who is currently working on the Guardians of the Galaxy comic) thinks Jason Statham should voice Rocket Raccoon and although Gunn didn’t know that, he has his own plans for the character, “there are a lot of people who have a lot of ideas of who is right for Rocket Racoon. Rocket Racoon has been slightly different over the years, in the comic books, and within my scripts he is a very, very specific guy, and I think people are going to have to wait for a few weeks before they see. We’ll get our dream guy, because a lot of people want to do it, so we’ll get the person who’s perfect for the role.”
The director also talks about Michael Rooker, who he is good friends with, and sort-of-but-not-quite confirms some involvement from him, “we’ve done two movies together, two reality shows, a short film, so I don’t think it would be crazy to think he would be involved in Guardians in some way.”
Speaking of casting, Gunn also addressed some of the casting rumours and pretty much confirmed Zoe Saldana’s involvement as Gamora as well as former WWE star Dave Bautista as Drax, “We haven’t really come out with our cast, people have gotten hold of some things, but I will say one thing: Dave Bautista is one of the most naturally gifted actors I have ever seen in my life. The guy has access to his emotions in a way that I have seen very few people able to do, and if he did get the role of Drax – I’ll tell you, nobody else was ever offered that role, at all; anything you heard about that is bull****, and if he did get the role, it’s 100% because of his ability to access his emotions, more so than anything else. And it just so happens that the guy was created in the cast of Drax when he was born, he looks just like Drax.”
So, it seems that the only person that is truly confirmed for the movie is Chris Pratt, “Everybody knows Chris Pratt is in the movie, and I saw maybe 80 to 100 guys read for Peter Quill. I was very specific that I wanted it to be somebody really extraordinary. I really had Robert Downey Jr in mind a lot. You had this guy who came in and he inhabited Tony Stark, when you first saw Tony Stark he blew your mind, you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. I knew that I needed somebody to blow my mind like that. We saw a lot of very famous guys for the role, a lot of very well-known people, and very, very good actors. We saw a lot of good performances, but it wasn’t until Chris came in and he read and I was like, ‘oh my God’, this guy has his own, very particular, amazing take on the character that blew my mind, blew me away. Then I thought, this is the first guy I could see sharing the screen with Robert Downey Jr and giving him a run for his money.”
Sharing the screen with Robert Downey Jr? Does that mean he’ll be having a cameo in the movie? “No. That just means that all our movies are connected, we’re created in a way that we’re very connected to the movies that came before us, we’re even more connected to The Avengers 2, that comes after us, and so in that respect, what we would hope is that these characters would continue, and that at some point in time they’ll all meet up with different characters throughout the galaxy.”
Guardians of the Galaxy begins filming in June, so we can expect a full cast to be announced very soon. The movie is set for release next year.
Originally published April 19, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
