Speaking to Collider, director
James Gunn, and stars Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, and Zoe Saldana revealed
something more about their characters, working on the film, and more.
James Gunn - Director
"Question: How’d you manage to convince Marvel to do an expensive
PG porn?
JAMES
GUNN: They’re fucking crazy. It’s true, it’s true. It’s not
PG porn.
…
Talk a little bit about the expectations of a film like this. Both
the expectations coming on you from the existing fan base from Marvel and what
kind of expectations did you set for yourself?
GUNN:
I guess I just don’t think of it so much as expectations. I’m definitely
trying to make a huge commercial, fun, awesome movie that moves people, and I
don’t know that’s an expectation so much as just something I’m trying to
achieve. I think in terms of the expectations from the fans, listen, one
of the great things about Guardians of the Galaxy is there
aren’t as many expectations on what to expect when you have The
Avengers.
They
have 500 plus issues of comics and everybody thinks, “Oh, well this is the
definitive story or this is the definitive story or Hawkeye’s personality in
issues 59 through 70 is really where he was defined.” And the truth is,
Hawkeye changes throughout all those issues of Avengers. I’ve
read them all, so I know. So, it’s like, there was a lot of different
expectations on what the title should be. With this, there are a lot
fewer Guardians of the Galaxy titles to choose from, and
there’s a lot fewer fans in general of Guardians of the Galaxy.
So those types of expectations I think are easier with a movie like this.
For me, I’m always hard on myself no matter what, so that’s always a thing I
have to deal with on a daily basis, and that’s whether I’m doing this movie or
in a relationship with a girl or whatever. It’s like, I just beat the
shit out of myself constantly. So it’s same old, same old.
...
I was hoping you could talk a little bit about casting because the cast of
this film is insane. Just from Benicio Del Toro, Glenn Close, I mean,
just the core group, I’m just curious about how that whole casting process
went. Also getting such big names for these supporting parts, and also,
specifically, I’m curious about what you saw in Bradley Cooper to be the voice
of Rocket Raccoon.
GUNN:
I think that you can find a real sort of through line with the actors who I
like and who I’ve worked with in the past, and who I work with in this movie,
and that is, I really like people who can do both drama and comedy. And
not some like, middle of the road do both drama and comedy. I’m not
talking about some guy who does these bland dramedies all the time. I’m
talking about people that have done heavy drama and who have done heavy
comedy. And I think if you look back in like Slither, that’s
what attracted me to Elizabeth Banks, when I first did that. It attracted
me to Nathan Fillion. It attracted me to a lot of different
people.
And
I think that you can see that in Bradley Cooper as much as anyone in the
world. When we were looking for Rocket, it was hard because Rocket, to
me, is really the heart of the movie. He’s this tortured little beast
who’s completely alone in the world and has been torn apart and put back
together and turned into this little thing, yet he’s still really funny, and so
you need somebody who can do both sides of that, and it was really very, very
difficult to find.
I
think Rocket’s voice is a little bit like mine in some way. He speaks
very quickly, he’s got a little city in him and that’s something that Bradley
Cooper has. To be completely frank, we auditioned a lot of actors
for the role and we auditioned a lot of voice actors for the role, and we were
completely 100% willing to go with somebody that was a no-name. A
no-name’s a rude term, but somebody who was not a famous person. And the
truth is, the voice actors usually seem too cartoony. It seemed like
somebody out of a Pixar movie. And the actors, it was hard to get just
the voice right. Bradley is really the guy. He is the guy.
He’s Rocket.
I
had a chance to do an a A-list film a couple years ago, and I was working on it
and after a certain point – and I’m trying to think of how to say this in not
an egocentric way, but if it comes out as egocentric, then that’s how it comes
out – it was like, after I was doing it, I’m like, “They just want me to be so
vanilla,” that at the end of the day, it just seems like any big director could
come in and direct this movie and at the end of the day, it was gonna end up
being the same movie no matter what. I felt useless and I mean, it was a
lot of money, it was a big thing and I guess it was a good step for my career
and maybe it would’ve helped me be able to go do something I wanted to do more,
but it made me sick to my stomach and I really couldn’t do it, and I walked
because I just, I couldn’t do it. And this, for me, is a dream project
because I feel of use every single day.
I
don’t think, “Maybe somebody else could do a better job, maybe somebody else
could do a great job,” but nobody is gonna tell the movie in the same way that
I’m gonna tell it. There’s nobody that would tell the same film that I’m
telling right now. And I feel like that’s so true about so many of the
people we’ve picked up along the way. You guys, I can’t tell you about
how good Dave Bautista is. There is nobody in the world who could do what
he’s doing in this movie because Drax has this Shakespearean way in which he
speaks and he’s this big, broad character, yet he’s also a very damaged and
tender soul and he gets a lot of the funniest lines in the movie, and Dave is
able to do all of that and be a gigantic bald dude! It’s like, I can’t
even see how it’s possible that we found him and how that happened. And
he went up against a lot of other actors and when he tested – Academy Award
nominated actors and everything – and he got the role because he was the best
actor. It’s been that way with everybody, with Chris, with Bradley, with
Zoe. Karen Gillan is like …
..."
Karen Gillan - Nebula
"…
Can you talk about this version of Nebula and what you’re bringing to the
role?
GILLAN:
I think Nebula’s a really interesting character. What I really like to play
around with is how jealous she is as a person. She’s Gamora’s sister, and
there’s a lot of sibling rivalry going on. That’s the most interesting aspect
about her character to me. So I really played with that and what it can do to a
person, because jealousy can consume you and turn you bitter and ugly, and I’ve
kind of played with that. And she’s a total sadist.
(laughs).
...
You talked about the rivalry and jealousy with your character and Gamora –
can you talk a bit about Nebula’s motivations and ultimate goals through the
story?
GILLAN: Well
basically she is a lieutenant of Ronan the Accuser, a daughter of Thanos,
and sister of Gamora. They are on this holy mission to kind of cleanse the
galaxy of all that is week. That is her ultimate objective and what’s been
drilled into her as a kid. So she is brainwashed by these people, and she just
wants to impress, and achieve, and be as strong as possible. That’s her
ultimate goal.
What have you done to keep that from being a one-note villain then, and
continuing to flesh out the character?
GILLAN: I kind of based it on, I
researched Spartans a lot, that whole lifestyle. It’s crazy, and it feels very
similar to this thing. Also, to keep it interesting as well, I kind of find her
battling emotions coming back in. She’s fighting to not have any emotions,
basically, because that’s as strong as you can be. So there’s an internal conflict going on there.
..."
Dave
Bautista - Drax the Destroyer
"…
Kind of bridging off that question, what is Drax’s relationship with each
member of the Guardians?
BAUTISTA:
That’s the thing, man. The way we start off is we don’t really care for each
other much at all. It’s weird because we come together, then we split apart,
and then we really come together and it’s really when we are the Guardians of
the Galaxy. It’s really that point and you totally feel it in the scenes that
we shot, you can really feel the love and the passion and the chemistry to
where we actually form this band and it’s just such a band of misfits, man.
It’s like we’re all jaded except for Groot. Groot’s so lovable. We have a
really jaded past but we finally I think we all discover a bigger reason for
living – something that’s bigger than us, something that’s bigger than our own
past, something that’s bigger than our own pain. That’s when we form together
to make the Guardians of the Galaxy. And you’ll feel it because you’ll feel it
in the scenes, you can feel the chemistry between the cast. And that’s the
coolest thing, what’s made this pretty easy for me because I still, I don’t
have a whole lot of experience in film but if the actors are there, I can be
there. If they’re in that moment, I can be there. It’s much easier when you
have your co-workers who are just, they’re there in the moment. If you were out
of the moment, you would feel odd. But it’s so easy to just get there and be in
that moment. We had good chemistry within the cast. Very good chemistry.
…
The etchings on your body are connected to some really personal stories,
and I wonder how much you had a part in kind of building those out a little or
did they tell you from beginning to end, these are the stories that you have.
BAUTISTA:
That was really… James had a lot to do with that, of course. And I think we
have such a brilliant team here. I think the designers of that had most to do
with it. But I don’t wanna give… There is a little bit of, there’s a lot of
comic relief to Drax. He doesn’t realize it and I don’t wanna give it away. But
there is a little bit of… because he sees something in the tattoos that
everybody else doesn’t see. And that’s all I’m going to say about that without
giving a lot away. But yeah, no I didn’t really have any input in them other
than making sure that they fit. We did a bunch of different tests for the
makeup and stuff before they decided on a final look for Drax.
…"
Zoe
Saldana - Gamora
"…
Was there any hesitation for you, having done Avatar, which is such a
complete physical emersion role, to then step over and play another alien
role? Or was that really ever a consideration?
SALDANA:
To me, it would be no different of a concern than Cate Blanchett, Keira
Knightley need to have because they just do primarily period pieces. I
just feel like, just because I’ve done a film that is considered amongst the
masses that like to categorize things as science fiction, then so be it, I
guess. As an artist, I like working with filmmakers that have the balls
to kind of imagine the unimaginable. Those are kind of the radicals that
I identify with and I grew up in a household where there was a lot of stories
that were placed in unconventional places. I found the escape to be much
more rewarding, at least for me. And then on the basis of being a woman,
by playing an alien, I avoid playing someone’s girlfriend here on Earth because
that’s a bit of a canker sore.
…
Gamora has a very interesting and detailed past and a lot of interesting
personality traits. What was the most appealing thing to you when you
signing on to play her? And what’s the most appealing thing now, looking
back at the last four months of filming?
SALDANA:
My nephew’s 11, he’s the only person that I know that reads Guardians,
everybody else I’ve met, they read comics but my nephew was the closest
one. I would ask him on his little IM—so funny—and he asked me, “Who do
you think Gamora is?” And I said, “She’s a warrior.” He goes,
“Yeah. But not only is she a warrior, she’s an assassin and she’s very
lethal but what saves her is the same thing that can doom her. She has a
sense of righteousness. She’s a very righteous individual.” And
that was coming from an 11-year-old boy. I was just like, “That’s
it! That’s gonna be like the overall mojo of Gamora; her sense of always wanting
to do the right thing.”
It’s
why she compels, I guess, the Guardians to not sell the orb or she’s trying to
ask them not to sell their souls for money. Because if it means that a
lot of people will lose their lives then it’s not really worth it. She’s
sort of the one who kind of starts going in that direction and then everybody
else kind of follows. What I like the most about this movie is that
we’re all starting like inmates, we’re all like lost kids. And by running
away because we wanted to run away from the families that we were brought into,
we end up creating a very beautiful family unit and becoming good, decent
people sometimes.
…
With Gamora’s direct connection to Thanos, she’s kind of the anchor to the
greater Marvel cinematic universe that’s been established. Is that
something that was part of your process or has informed your playing of this
character at all?
SALDANA:
If I tell you “no” will you think ill of me? I don’t read comics and I
don’t follow, so I don’t know. I’ve learned now as I’m doing the movie of
the importance that Thanos has with all these characters in the Marvel
universe. And I thought, “She definitely does have an upper hand with a
lot of the characters because she was raised by this individual.” But in
terms of how deep their blood ties are, that’ll probably be put into question
in the next movie because it wasn’t really covered enough in this one.
…"
Guardians of the Galaxy opens on July 31st in the UK,
and on August 1st in the US.
Source - Collider
0 Comments:
Post a Comment