Originally published April 4, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn recently conducted another Facebook Live Q&A (every social media account he has is incredibly active with fan interaction and worth following), where he found himself clarifying exactly what his brother Sean Gunn does on set portraying the lovable troublemaker that is Rocket Raccoon.
“Sean Gunn is not a stand-in,” said James. “He is a motion reference actor. That means we film everything Sean does on set as Rocket. We film it. I don’t stop doing takes of him until we get the performance right and then we use that performance as a basis for much of Rocket’s acting. And he does a fantastic job in that role. He knows it. He understands it. And also very important, Sean is able to physically do something most actors aren’t able to do, which is waddle around on all fours. He’s always been an incredibly limber guy that can to do a lot of strange physical things. And the fact that he’s able to waddle around on his legs all day long at the exact height of Rocket is quite a feat and quite quite difficult.”
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is scheduled for release on April 28th 2017 in the UK and on May 5th in the States, with director James Gunn reuniting with returning cast members Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Glenn Close (Nova Prime) and Sean Gunn (Kraglin) alongside new additions Pom Klementieff (Oldboy) as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Ayesha, Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight) as Ego the Living Planet, Chris Sullivan (The Drop) as Taserface and Sylvester Stallone (Creed) and Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
