Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, + The Cast Talk Star-Lord, Gamora, + More

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/10/guardians-of-the-galaxy-james-gunn-chris-pratt-zoe-saldana-and-the-cast-talk-star-lord-gamora-and-more

Marvel's most cosmic movie to date, Guardians of the Galaxy, is set to open in theaters next year, and the studio has, wisely, already begun the process of "educating" the audience at large. What does that mean? It means that, though the Marvel cinematic universe has taken some risks, this motley crew, which feature's both a talking raccoon and tree (with voice castings on Rocket Raccoon and Groot imminent), feels like their most ambitious left field endeavor.

Following the Comic-Con exclusive footage debut, Gunn and Guardians stars Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Benicio Del Toro (The Collector), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Djimon Hounsou (Korath the Pursuer), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accusor) and Karen Gillan (Nebula) answered a bevy of questions from press. Take a look at a few of the details that were revealed, as well as some of our interviews with the director and cast, below.

Oh, and before we get started, here's a quick video to catch you up on everything you need to know about Guardians of the Galaxy.

From The Director on Thanos & Guardians:

The film reportedly follows a U.S. pilot (Chris Pratt's Peter Quill/Star-Lord) who becomes connected to a ragtag group of alien "thieves and rebels" - the team that will become the Guardians - who become embroiled in a universal conflict.

Thanos and the tie to the rest of the Marvel universe:
"We have Thanos," Gunn said when asked how Guardians fits into the larger Marvel movies universe. "Thanos is the thing that connects us to the Marvel universe, at this point. In the future, we'll see what happens after that. But right now, we're connected to the rest of the Marvel universe because of three seconds at the end of The Avengers."

Who are the Guardians?
"Guardians is about a family coming together," Gunn explained. "It really is about a group of individuals who have acted selfishly and only as individuals, throughout their lives. And they learn something about themselves that makes them heroes."

This isn't a "darkly comedic" tone, this is a James Gunn tone - for a broad audience:
"There's a lot of James Gunn in this movie, and it's a strange thing," the director said. "When I turned in the first draft to Kevin [Feige] and Marvel and Joss [Whedon], and they read the first draft, they were all really happy, which made me happy. That was a really good day. And their biggest note was, 'More James Gunn,' which freaked the hell out of me. So, I gave them more James Gunn, and that's what's in the movie. I think it's a really unique movie. But with every movie I do, I'm speaking to a certain part of myself and I'm speaking to a certain audience. With a movie like Super, I'm speaking to a specific person that that movie means a lot to. I really appreciate everybody who loves that movie. When I'm doing a movie like Guardians, it really is for a much broader audience. It's for everybody. It's a movie we can go see on a Friday night, with everybody else in the city, and really enjoy ourselves in a different type of way. And I appreciate both of those types of movies."

Star-Lord:

Quill likes the (alien) ladies:
"For Quill, without blowing too much of his origin, or anything like that, there’s a petulance to him," Pratt says of his, in the comics, half-human/half-alien character. "He hasn’t really been held accountable, as an adult. He’s been able to be free in space and do whatever he’s wanted to do. That’s really fun because it means that he’s slept with all these super-weird aliens. That’s my favorite weird element of the character. It’s just very wonderful. When I first donned my full wardrobe in the costume department. I put it on and it was just like, ‘Wow!’ I wore it, and I thought that was pretty wonderful. All of a sudden, my walk changed a little bit, and I had a little extra bob in my head. "

Is it intimidating to introduce these spacey characters?
"All the Marvel movies, thus far, have been received so well because they were such famous comic books, but I think they were also great stories" Pratt said when asked about ushering Guardians in to the Marvel cinematic universe, and any concerns he had about the general public's acceptance of these otherworldly creatures. "Iron Man is Iron Man now because of Iron Man, the movie. It was a comic, and certainly people knew it, but they love the movie and they go back to it because it's great storytelling. It's the same thing with this. This is a really cool story. Marvel knows what they're doing and they know how to tell a story and they know how to make this movie."

Gamora Challenges Cap & Thor & More:

Gamora, as mentioned in the introductory video, is, in the comics, the adopted daughter of Thanos, but eventually works to stop his world-destroying plans.

Is it easy being green?
"I play Gamora," Saldana said of her character. "The weirdest thing about her is that she turns green when she blushes, she turns green when she’s mad, and she turns green when she’s turned on. And what’s wonderful is that she has grown up in an environment that has misrepresented how she truly feels inside and she’s gonna discover that, hopefully."

The environment she grew-up in was with, again in the world of the comics, a father who wanted nothing more than to use her as a weapon.

I challenge you Thor!
"I feel very excited to be joining the Marvel family of superheroes," Saldana said. "I do believe that the Guardians have bigger powers, in a way. If we were up against Captain America, or Thor, we'd totally kick his ass."

Wonder what the God of Thunder would have to say about that...

A spaceship of misfit toys:
"This is sort of like the anti-hero, hero movie," said Saldana. "When you meet these characters, they're thieves, they're rebels and they're assassins, but they're gonna be learning very big lessons. Because it's a James Gunn interpretation of Guardians, the levity will be very abundant, and that's what keeps it awesome. My 10-year-old niece just visited the set, and when we both walked into one of the sets they had built, we both had the same expression and we were both drooling. It was insane!"

Yondu and Drax:

There are still some questions about how Yondu is going to play in the Gunn version of Guardians, as the character in the comics is a member of the original Guardians team, rather than the Star-Lord-led team. We will keep you updated on those details as they emerge. In the interim...

Yondu believes in tough love:
"There's a lot of me in Yondu," said Rooker of the character. "When I first read the script, I noticed right away that there are some aspects of Yondu's existence within this universe of ours that were very, very close to me. For example, the tough love that I have towards some of the other cast members. I'm very much like that in my life, as well."

Oh, and according to Rooker, Yondu turns a deep red when overcome by emotion, as Gamora blushes green.

Drax can also beat up Thor...and the Hulk:
"I play Drax the Destroyer," said Bautista of his character, "who is also a pretty bad dude. Drax is full of rage, and he's full of honor, and he's very literal. I think the best thing about Drax is that he's hysterical without meaning to be."

Bautista also said that Drax could beat-up both Thor and the Hulk. Sounds like the groundwork for an Avengers/Guardians showdown is already evolving. Oh, and in the comics, Drax is out for vengeance against Thanos for the murder of his family. Though that is a pretty complicated tale.

The Collector & Korath:

Hounsou plays Korath the Pursuer, who in the comics is a Kree and an ally of Thanos' and Ronan the Accuser (also Kree). The actor notably let it slip in the panel that Thanos would indeed play a role in the movie. Though how everything ties together still remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Benicio Del Toro plays The Collector, one of the oldest beings in the universe who while meditating saw that beings of extraordinary power would rise and try to destroy all. To prevent this, he collected both objects and beings of great power (including superheroes). Del Toro thinks that it's, "pretty cool" that his character "has his own personal zoo." Perhaps this gang of thieves have stolen one of the aforementioned objects of power from The Collector. Again, we're not sure how his character will be depicted in the film.

Hounsou on why it's important for him to be a part of Marvel:
"I play Korath, who is a humanoid," Hounsou said. "I have a 4-year-old son, who loves all the superheroes from Spider-Man to Batman to Iron Man. He's got all the costumes. And one day, he looked at me and said, 'Papa, I want to be light-skinned, so I can be Spider-Man, 'cause Spider-Man is light-skinned.' That was a shock to me. I'm extremely excited to be a part of the Marvel Universe, so I can provide a diverse outlook of superheroes or bad guys in those stories. It's important for us to be part of that, and specifically for me. That was my in ticket to the Marvel world, and I'm excited."

Ronan The Accuser and Nebula:

Ronan, a complicated villain:
"I play Ronan the Accuser," said Pace, "a character that's been around since 1967, when he first walked into Fantastic Four. So, there's a lot of incredible story that I've gotten to research. If you call reading comic books research, I guess I've been doing my job. I start work this week, filming the character, and I'm just really excited to make a villain that is complicated. There's a core to him where you can find something that you can understand. I don't know. He's pretty bad, though. It's the early days, so I'm just putting the first wall up and we'll start there."

Nebula is connected to Gamora:
"I play Nebula, and she looks pretty weird," Gillan said. "One of the most interesting things about the character, for me, is her very strange and complex relationship to Gamora."

Nebula is a alien supervillain in the comics, a space pirate and mercenary who took control of Thanos' ship when he was believed dead, claiming to be his granddaughter. She later paid a great price for that, and their enmity, and her drive for power, continued over time.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens on August 1, 2014.

» Chris Pratt Set To Lead 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' As Star Lord
» James Gunn: 'Guardians of the Galaxy Is Connected to Avengers 3'
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