James Gunn & Kevin Feige took the time to sit down and chat with us about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Two Marvel geniuses in one room? Every Guardians of the Galaxy Fans dream. I guess the only way that could have been better is if Stan Lee would have made a cameo experience!
My favorite part of the interview…
When James Gunn starts off the interview with saying “my favorite part of making the Guardians movie is meeting with the Mommy Bloggers. That’s not a joke…you guys are the best, because it’s totally real and not so…you know…Hollywood-y…”
James Gunn & Kevin Feige Share Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Fun Facts…here’s what they had to say.
The Music
James Gunn: “I have a list of about 500 songs, which I think of as, like, Guardians-type songs that Meredith Quill might really love. And when I’m going through and I’m writing the script, I put the songs into the script where they seem to fit. And sometimes I don’t have a song that seems right on that list, and so I have to go out and search, and listen to a bunch of stuff, and see what I like, you know. But eventually it’s all basically baked into the organic story of what’s happening in a movie, in the same way you put, you know, sugar in a cake.”
- Fun Fact: 1 of the songs came from a suggestion on Twitter, “Wham Bam” – James Gunn
- Fun Fact: “A lot of screenwriters put song suggestions into their scripts, and almost none of those songs end up in the actual movie.” – Kevin Feige
- Fun Fact: “There’s a Guardians of the Galaxy theme park ride that is opening soon at California Adventure that features songs that James suggested as well, and a few other places coming up in the future.” – Kevin Feige
The Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers partnering up
Kevin Feige: “Well. I mean, as with all of the connectivity between our characters on various films, you have to be careful about it. I mean, we never want it to just seem like characters are popping their heads out of windows and saying “Hello” and then going back in.”
James Gunn: “It’s a whole movie of Stan Lee cameos.”
Kevin Feige: “Exactly…Believe me, it’d be easier to do it that way, but it wouldn’t be as satisfying. So a big role, a small role, regardless of the actual screen time that any single character has, I think you’ve seen this in the Avengers films, and in Civil War last year, it’ll be very meaningful and very important to the story that we’re telling. And that film’s shooting right now and we’ve already shot a lot of those interactions, and it’s very exciting. It’s very exciting.”
A future story line involving the Ravager captains???
James Gunn: Absolutely, I’m excited about those guys. I love those guys. They’re based on the original Guardians in the comic books…that is something that we shot in post, because I woke up one morning, and I was like, “Oh my God. This could be so fun. What if we made an even weirder, more screwy, more dysfunctional Guardians?…And I went to Kevin, and I’m like, “Can we please do this?” And Kevin was like, “I love it! It’s my favorite thing ever.”
- Fun Fact: Miley Cyrus is the voice of Mainframe (the talking metal head). “her voice is awesome. I’m like, “She’s got the best voice.” And then I wrote this thing and I went in and I said, “Kevin, what do you think about casting Miley Cyrus as the voice of Mainframe?” And he was like, “Well, I’ll see if we can get her.” – James Gunn
Cameos
James Gunn: “…my parents are in it. My brother. My brother’s wife. My three — my two nephews and my niece are all in that scene…you know, I kill a lot of my family members. It’s not quite “aww.” It’s more like, y’know, “grr.”
- Fun Fact: “my dad, they’re credited in the credits as “weird old man” and “weird old man’s mistress.” Which my mom loved. My mom loved it. ” – James Gunn
The relationship between Peter Quill (StarLord) and Gamora
***SPOILER in the response***
James Gunn: “…there was a time when we had a lot of discussion and talked about having a kiss in the movie. But we tried to treat these characters with such respect and such love. I don’t think Gamora is a character who would be swept up in the moment by passion, and if she was, I think she would have to deal with the ramifications of that. I don’t think she would be easy on herself about it. So I think at the end what we see between the two of them is such a truer love story. Where she loves him, and he loves her, and she acknowledges that at the end of the movie, but that’s a love that’s based not only on attraction but on a really deep friendship that the two of them have.
A partnership that we see at the beginning of the movie. That they’ve changed a great deal. At the beginning of the movie, they’re great friends. She’s a great support to him when he’s making this decision, and he respects and loves her. And so I think seeing that emotional part of their movie, of their relationship, is a culmination of what their relationship is in the movie, is more powerful than seeing a kiss that is romantic and would make us feel happy and feel good, but wouldn’t be as true.”
Kevin Feige: “It’s the difference between a truthful, emotional moment, and a Hollywood moment, and that was very savvy of James to navigate that.”
Want more Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Interviews?
Check out my interviews with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Kurt Russell, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff & Elizabeth Debicki.
There are also some great exclusive set visit interviews if you want to check those out as well: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Kurt Russell, James Gunn and Karen Gillan.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is now in theaters! If you haven’t yet seen it, you are missing out.
Note: Disney provided me with an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of the world premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. However, ALL opinions are my own.
