Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Interview with James Gunn

James Gunn is not only a brilliant director, he is completely down to earth and is also pretty funny (have you read the banter he’s had going on with Chris Pratt on social media). Given how brilliant he is, getting to see James Gunn in action as they filmed a scene was quite the memorable experience. This is the scene that they were filming while we were on set and I can’t wait to see where it fits into the movie.

This is what that scene looks like in the movie

Here’s what James Gunn had to say about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Coming up with the idea for the sequel

“Well, a lot of the sequel ideas about Quill’s relationship to his two fathers, basically Yondu and the character Kurt Russell plays…And so the mythology of all of that was something that was written before the first movie was written. I knew basically where he was going. Basically who his father was. Basically what Yondu’s relationship was to his father. So a lot of mythology came then…the story started during the first movie, I was always taking notes and thinking about it. I knew this was a story. I wasn’t sure if it should be the sequel. I wasn’t sure if it should be like a third movie in a trilogy. And then when it came time to actually write the screenplay, I’m like, let’s just go for broke and do that story that I had in my head, which was this one. Which I really started actually physically writing the treatment on the first day, on the day the first movie came out.”

Bringing Kurt on board

“…at one point Chris brought him up and I didn’t take him very seriously. But another point, Fred Raskin, who is our editor, brought him up. Fred cut Kurt’s last two movies…so he- he really liked him as an actor, and if an editor likes an actor, you know that the actor is good. Because there’s a lot of actors that cut together very well because you have to piece together their good performances and it’s actually difficult. And then people go and say, oh this person’s great. But it takes a lot of work to get there. But the fact that Fred liked him so much meant he was a strong a lot, which was great.”

The importance of music in these films

“Well, I think that music is really the character of Peter Quill’s mom, so his relationship with his mother is through the music. And music’s an important thing in my own life. So, I think it’s something that keeps that relationship alive. And that relationship is very much kept alive in this second movie. His relationship with his mother as well as his relationship with his father and what that is exactly is told through music. I think in the first movie, there’s another practical reason which is that people were going into this movie, different planets, different worlds, different characters from other planets, and the music was a way we kept everybody grounded in something that was attached to earth, something that was familiar in the midst of all this unfamiliar stuff. Something that was an emotional tether, basically, to earth.”

The characters he loves and their development in Vol. 2

I just relate so deeply to Rocket…I think something that we succeeded a lot at in this film is each character has their own story. I think that’s been more true for the other non-star lord characters in this movie than in the first movie. And I would say especially for Gamora and Rocket. They have their very specific stories that are about them.

…The first story was about becoming a family, and this one’s about being a family. And so it makes a big difference…in this one it’s really about Rocket. You get that first flush of accepting friendship and love which he had in the first movie. And this movie is about being able to continue some form of intimacy, which is much, much harder for him to accept that because of where he came from.

And through that I think he forms a pretty tight bond with Yondu, who has a similar background, because Yondu’s an older guy who never …Never accepted people that loved him. Never accepted any of that. And to be able to have Rocket. It’s not so much about him learning to love other people, it’s about him learning to accept the love and affection of other creatures. I love him as much as ever.

I love ‘em all. Drax steals this movie. I mean he’s really, really funny. You know, one of the great things about coming back to a second movie is you get to know the actors who play the roles. And all of these actors roles are all tailor fit to them. Bautista…probably had the least experience of everybody on the first movie. So he’s grown the most. He’s gotten the most better from anyone in the first movie.
And the character is more tailored to him. So it’s really been great.”

Be sure to check back in each day this week for what it was like to be on the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Set and interviews with Chris Pratt (“Peter Quill”), Zoe Saldana (“Gamora”), Dave Bautista (“Drax), Michael Rooker (“Yondu”)  and Karen Gillan (“Nebula”).

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters May 5th!

**I was invited by Disney/Marvel to attend this top secret Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Set press trip to share my experience with my readers. However, All opinions are my own.