Marvel Studios: Assembled (2021) s02e02 Episode Script

The Making of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3

[CAPTIVATING INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
[LAUGHS]
CHRIS PRATT: Guardians of the Galaxy was
expected to be Marvel's first big flop.
They were scraping
the bottom of the barrel.
You know, we were picked last.
And James Gunn, nine years ago,
it's hard to believe,
he was the guy who did Scooby-Doo.
And he was a great director.
He'd done a superhero movie, Super.
It made $377,000 at the box office.
[ALL LAUGHING]
[LAUGHING]
But he believed.
He believed in himself.
He believed in me. Yeah, so, thank you.
[ALL APPLAUDING]
KEVIN FEIGE: Guardians represents such
a big milestone for us at Marvel Studios.
A group of characters that were not
the most famous group of characters ever.
And yet, under the guidance
of writer-director James Gunn,
they captured the world's imagination.
We are very much committed
and very loyal and devoted
to James', you know, vision.
He's a great captain to have, absolutely,
and he establishes
such a beautiful environment
of friendship and creativity,
but also passion.
JAMES GUNN: How are
you guys feeling today?
[ALL CHEERING]
Welcome to Guardians of the Galaxy.
PRATT: For him to have done all
three movies is a blessing for all of us.
- GUNN: Yo!
- It's so uniquely his.
His voice,
his writing, his directing, his style,
his love for animals,
his love for the bizarre.
The tone, he has a very specific tone,
and it's a James Gunn tone.
Lower your weapons.
Let's kill that one
that looks like a carrot
and show him we mean business.
- After he says, "Lower your weapons."
- After he says, "Lower your"
KAREN GILLAN: We all went to Comic-Con
and showed some footage
from the first Guardians.
And Guardians didn't have
this huge fan base.
People were aware of it, but it wasn't
like Captain America or Thor.
Then I remember the whole audience
watching it in slight, like
It was like digesting something new.
That's what it felt like.
And then we went to Comic-Con
the second year around,
and the audience was so pumped.
They were like, "Give us more!"
Are you all excited to see the show?
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
All right.
There's more of a connection
because the Guardians are so imperfect.
[LAUGHS] I think they're more relatable.
And I think, you know,
there's just a true,
genuine kind of family love,
a chosen family love,
which a lot of people in the world
can relate to.
The Galaxy still needs its Guardians.
And you will make a better leader
than I ever was.
Cap'n.
GUNN: When Marvel first came to me
and talked to me about
perhaps doing Guardians of the Galaxy,
as stupid as it sounds,
I was making lower budget films,
but I wasn't sure
I never wanted to make a movie
that I couldn't sink my teeth into,
that I really didn't care about
with every fiber of my being.
I was driving home from a meeting
and thought,
"Well, if there was a real
talking raccoon,
"where did that raccoon come from?"
And I thought, "Well, this is the saddest
creature in the universe."
This is a little animal that was turned
into something he shouldn't be
and felt completely
ostracized and alienated
from every other life form in the galaxy,
and was angry.
[GRUNTING]
Well, I didn't ask to get made.
I didn't ask to be torn apart
and put back again over and over,
and turned into some [SIGHS]
Some little monster.
GUNN: That loneliness is really
the center of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
People think of them
as light-hearted movies and fun movies,
but everything that drives it
is that emotional center
of Rocket and the other characters
who are all outsiders.
They're going to tell you
that this is Rocket's story. It's not.
It's always Peter Quill's story,
AKA Legendary Outlaw.
Don't forget that. This is Star-Lord's
Who told you it was Rocket's story?
It's not.
It belongs to Star That's
It's a lie.
Um, no, it is Rocket's story.
I told you a million times
you keep your grimy raccoon hands
off my Zune.
I told you a million times
I'm not a damn raccoon.
PRATT: Sean is extraordinary.
I mean, he really brings Rocket to life
for all of us on set.
We'll fly away together, the four of us.
Just like we always said. Okay?
It started with me
essentially getting a phone call
from my brother James, saying,
"Hey, I'm doing this movie
"and I think I have a role for you.
"I might have two roles for you."
And it kind of snowballed from there.
Quit smiling like an idiot.
You're supposed to be a professional.
I've talked about the process
of playing this role over the years
and what it's taken.
It's always, for me, been about
what I'm giving to the other actors.
They need Rocket to be real.
- Hey, what is that?
- That is for when things get hardcore.
Sean really goes
completely out of his way
to deliver a heartfelt and strong
and convincing Rocket
while we're shooting,
that we're able to bounce off of him
because it has to be that way.
I can't explain how valuable it is
to have him there and perform with him.
Especially in the first film,
because he brought out
some of my better moments,
which, at that time,
was really important for me as an actor,
as a struggling actor.
All the anger,
all the rage
was just to cover my loss.
ZOE SALDANA: When we're
shooting the movie,
I'm only going to speak for myself,
I really do believe that Sean is Rocket.
But also, you know,
when I watch the movie
and I hear Bradley Cooper's voice,
then he really feels to me
like Rocket as well.
So, I feel like Rocket
is half of both these individuals.
- What are you gonna do about Quill?
- Me? Why not you?
I got emotionalistical issues.
What am I gonna do?
I'm proud of the work that we all
have done in creating this character.
From Bradley Cooper to my brother James,
and then the whole special effects team,
which is in the middle,
to me, it's modern storytelling.
There's a whole community of people
that made this great character.
Rocket Racoon.
DAVE BAUTISTA: You know, after where
we've gone with Ronan and Thanos,
to find a character
who is worthy
of being our adversary in this film
was not an easy thing to accomplish.
CHUKWUDI IWUJI: We've always
wanted to know where Rocket
came from and why he's so super bright,
and it turns out that
the High Evolutionary is this scientist
who has been doing experiments
to create "Humanimals", he calls them,
to create, in his head,
the perfect world.
He thinks he's bettering the universe
by doing it
and has sort of gone
into that very gray area
between genius and madness.
It's our sacred mission
to take an imperfect clump
of biological matter such as you
and transform it into something
perfect.
It's almost like your classic father-son.
Son seeks revenge,
but twisted on its head,
father then seeks revenge
in my relationship with Rocket.
Hello.
SIMON HATT: Somewhere along the line,
it stops being about,
like, this father-son relationship
and it reverts to this experimenter
and specimen relationship.
I made you!
How did you know?
SALDANA: The High Evolutionary
is aware of what he's doing,
but firmly believes that
there are creatures of less importance.
And they're just available for him
to do with them as he pleases.
It's a little baby, cute raccoon
- being torn apart.
- [GASPS]
And, yes, he's screeching and screaming
and you're putting him back together
and it's unlike anything you've ever seen.
So, I'm not gonna show a raccoon
being torn apart and put back together,
- so I'm going to show it on your face.
- Okay.
So that's the important thing
at the beginning.
It's just your horror
of what you're seeing.
That was an emotional scene
to watch him go through this torture.
Why did he never tell us
about any of this?
This is worse than what Thanos did to me.
GUNN: You don't want to just
have moustache-twirling,
evil villain doing evil for no reason.
"I wanna take over the world,
I wanna destroy the universe."
All these things
that don't really make sense.
You don't want that.
But also, once you really
get to know a villain
and you start to feel, "Hey,
they've got a good reason for something,"
you stop hating them.
You gotta hate 'em.
And so, Chuk really brings
both of those things.
We understand exactly what he wants to do
and we also hate his guts
because he's a jerk.
We need 89P13's brain
so we can transfer that trait
into these creatures
before we go to the new colony.
Nothing else matters.
We started with images from the comic,
and James was like
"That's not
who I want this villain to be."
And how did he get to this point?
It works in the comic,
but in the evolution of the character
in this script,
it needed something new
and unique and different.
And it started with the makeup.
And I have to say that
was a great collaboration
with Legacy Effects.
Legacy did a lot of makeup sketches,
and then we did clothes
that went with that.
IWUJI: He's a huge narcissist,
this character,
and clearly, he loves
the fabrics and the colors.
Royal Purple, of course.
But I just love what Judianna
and the team have done
with slicking him up
and making him very elegant.
I want to be a dictator.
I want to be a dictator.
My character has actually
three makeup looks in this.
We have the flashback look, which
is very similar to what you see here.
Then the Rocket incident happened.
[SCREAMING]
And that leaves him
physically scarred also.
And when we meet him in real time,
as it were, it's look number two.
That's the public figure.
The look I'm sure
a lot of people in Beverly Hills
pay a lot of money for to look that tight,
you know? [LAUGHS]
You almost have to admire their pluck.
And then we have a final look,
which basically
is the face behind the mask.
- His face came off.
- [ALL LAUGHING]
- Cut.
- [LAUGHS]
Cut.
He's so good and purple
and dark, and like
and evil.
BAUTISTA: Chuk's incredible
playing this part,
which is odd because he is just
the sweetest guy ever.
You understand me, don't you?
None of the others do.
You understand me, don't you?
Yeah.
GUNN: This is both a bigger
and a smaller story than Vol. 2.
I think that, you know,
we have a lot of different planets,
a lot of new places we're exploring.
This is the biggest spaceship
that I've ever been in.
It's three actual stories of a spaceship.
So, our sets are huge,
but it's also a much more intimate
and smaller story in certain ways.
These characters all share
a lot of things.
Really at the end of the day,
as I've said many times before,
the Guardians of the Galaxy
are about a group of characters
who have all experienced childhood trauma
and how do they bring those traumas
into their adult life
and how is it all related
to a giant space opera?
And so, this movie is facing those issues
much more head-on
than I think our first two movies did.
Everyone around me dies.
My mother, Yondu
- Gamora.
- Gamora isn't dead.
She is to us.
We follow this arc of Peter Quill
through the course of these movies
and really, it's been
The first movie was
a young man learning to care
about something other than himself.
To be less selfish,
to be part of a family.
Usually, life takes more
than it gives. But not today.
Today, it's given us something.
It has given us a chance.
And then in the second film,
it's wanting to learn more about himself,
to find meaning in his identity,
to understand who he is.
And he thinks he finds that
in the character that is his father.
But again, he has to be reminded
that the family he's a part of
is the family that adopted him.
And I think the arc of the third movie
is Quill
learning to be okay on his own,
and learning,
as Drax powerfully puts it in a metaphor
that's given to him by Mantis,
how to stop jumping
from lily pad to lily pad,
but rather to learn how to swim.
This is great. It's great emotional work.
- MAN 1: And cut.
- MAN 2: Cut.
Might have made a gun sound.
GILLAN: Chris is such an amazing energy
to have on set.
He's a perfect number one
on the call sheet,
meaning that person usually sets the tone
and it trickles down.
- Whoa-oh! Yeah!
- I did that for you, brother.
GILLAN: It's a really joyous atmosphere
with him around.
I know I'm good
because I was amazing in that take.
Whoo!
That's the kind of acting
that really keeps me going.
BAUTISTA: It's hard for me to describe
how it is working with him
because our characters,
I think our acting styles,
our personalities
are complete yin and yang.
So [LAUGHS] It just feels so easy.
Come on, it's me, Peter Quill.
I'm one of you, remember?
I don't know if there's another character,
another performer
that I enjoy just bouncing off of
more than Chris Pratt.
'Cause we just work together.
I'm just a perfect straight man
to his high energy.
Can't you see
these authentic mechanic uniforms
that we're wearing on our bodies?
That blend in with some of our skin-tones
better than others?
Okay, now do it again like that
and then turn to Karen and go,
"Now, you go!"
[ALL LAUGHING]
GILLAN: Everybody is so in tune
with their characters.
It's like second nature now.
We can slip in and out easily
because we've been doing it
for a long time.
And everyone is giving
their best performances.
It feels like we've never been better.
It does feel like
lightning in a bottle, actually.
SALDANA: I'm surprised that
Gamora is in this installment as much
because I immediately knew
what had happened, you know, in Avengers,
and I was just like, "Well, it would be
an honor to just come for two scenes
"and then, you know,
bid everyone farewell."
But I was deeply surprised
and really grateful that I got to play
Like, Gamora really has a lot to do
and a lot to sort of observe
of the Guardians in this movie.
Trap isn't a trap if you know the trap
is trying to trap you. It's a face-off.
What?
A face-off is a trap
if you're facing off against a man
more powerful than you.
The Gamora of Vol. 1
will have a lot more in common
with the Gamora of Vol. 3 for sure.
We loved each other.
I don't think so.
SALDANA: Even though they have
these experience lived,
you know, with the other Gamora,
they feel familiar to her.
But she doesn't understand why.
So it's a very confusing concept for her.
But I do find this Gamora very exciting,
you know, because she's very independent,
and, um, she's really wild. [LAUGHS]
And she's different.
There's a spunk to her
that, you know, Gamora never really had.
So, you're a Ravager now?
Put on the uniform.
Never pictured you as the Ravager type.
Who are you again?
So she's now a Ravager,
and so, it's a whole different
costume change.
We didn't reference anything
from her other costumes at all.
And we established in Guardians 2
that there were a group of women Ravagers
who wore green.
So she's in green.
HATT: In Yondu's death,
the Ravagers have become united.
So when you see them this time around,
there's Yellow,
there's Blue, there's Red, there's Green,
everyone's there,
and they're one Ravager tribe right now.
And Gamora is a feared
and respected entity.
This is what you got to live up to.
All right. Get in here.
You know, we learned
a little bit in Guardians 2,
when you heard the back stories
of Nebula and Gamora,
that Nebula is not really
the bad guy in that situation.
Gamora is the bad guy.
As a child, my father would have
Gamora and me
battle one another in training.
Every time my sister prevailed
my father would replace
a piece of me with machinery
claiming he wanted me to be her equal.
But she won
again and again, and again,
never once refraining.
GUNN: Nebula has grown up quite a bit.
If anything, in many ways,
she's the leader of the Guardians
because Quill has been incapacitated
by his own emotional situation.
And we see, you know, Nebula and Gamora
as the way they are now,
and they've changed roles
from what they were in Guardians 1.
Old you would have
never done this.
You had a purpose
higher than yourself.
A calling to help people. That's why
you left Thanos and formed the Guardians.
Except I didn't form the Guardians,
and I barely left Thanos.
Whoever it was
that you were in love with
it wasn't me.
It sounds more like her.
- Her?
- What?
- That's ridiculous! Don't even
- Do not bring me into this.
GILLAN: Me and Zoe are so bonded
through the experience
of playing these characters. It's crazy.
Like we feel really protective
over the sister relationship
and how it's portrayed on screen
and it just really matters
to the both of us.
It's something that
we just connected with a lot.
And over the years
it's resulted in a really special bond
between the two of us.
Hopefully, she agrees with me. [LAUGHS]
I got an HR complaint
that they're too giggly.
- [ALL LAUGHING]
- Oh, he's right.
I would have loved
to have seen just a spin-off
based on that sisterhood.
It's so complex.
It's so controversial. It's, um
It's also so relatable in a sense that,
not me by personal experience,
but knowing that
there are siblings out there
that have had troubled lives at home,
and managed to survive
because of their kinship,
because of their brotherhood
or their sisterhood.
Tell me something.
In the future
what happens to you and me?
I try to kill you.
Several times.
But eventually, we become friends.
We become sisters.
Karen is a very talented actor,
and she transforms herself.
Nebula and Karen could not be
any more different from each other.
I'm covered in goo because we've been
climbing through a gooey surface.
[LAUGHING] And we're absolutely
head to toe covered in goo
and it's Wednesday
and it's our first day
back after the holidays,
and we're just getting our goo right on.
Her voice for Nebula
is like Clint Eastwood.
And then they say, "Cut,"
and she sounds to me like
Mrs. Doubtfire.
She's like this Scottish
[IN CHILD-LIKE VOICE] Ooh, was it
And then she goes into
[IN DEEP VOICE]
"Okay, now I'm Nebula."
[LAUGHING]
Oh, dear.
I've always found her pretty funny
because she's so serious.
And I think that if anyone's that serious,
there is an element of comedy to it.
But she's now becoming a lot funnier.
[GRUNTING]
- Push down on it.
- What?
- Push it down.
- I am pushing down on it.
Push the button.
- You're pushing the keyhole.
- The what?
There's a button under the handle,
press that in.
[GRUNTS AND SIGHS] Okay. Now what?
Open the [BLEEP] door.
That is a stupid design,
and your instructions were very unclear.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
That is the next step in our evolution.
More powerful, more beautiful
more capable of destroying
the Guardians of the Galaxy.
I think I shall call him
Adam.
SARA: Adam Warlock has been sent
by his mother, Ayesha, to capture Rocket.
Hey!
Where did you go, squirrel?
And what we've come to learn
is actually
that is at the behest
of the High Evolutionary
who was the creator
of the Sovereign people.
You get this wonderful pair
of Ayesha played by Elizabeth Debicki
and Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter.
I am the Warlock, Mum,
and I am done with being ordered around.
The best way to describe Adam Warlock
would be in the words
of the High Evolutionary.
He was created with the hopes
that he would be
the apogee of the Sovereign people.
And he comes out
a little early from his cocoon,
and he's somewhat half-baked.
Who threw this thing at me?
- Shut up.
- [WHIMPERING]
Baby.
The way that James wrote
the character of Adam Warlock,
it really did require an actor
who could handle both humor
but also some of the weightier moments
of the film.
Right at the beginning of the movie,
you realize Adam Warlock is not a guy
that you want to mess with.
I've had an opportunity to work with
the stunt team here on a bunch of things,
which has been a real treat.
The wire work,
the various rigs to make it look like
you're flying, that's fun.
I've had a couple of flying dreams
that have really improved
in terms of their quality
since training on this movie,
because I feel like I got as close
to the real thing as one can get.
Who is that maniac?
Some super douche with ray gun hands,
I don't frickin' know.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
WILL POULTER: For Knowhere,
they practically created
a whole city right there.
It was unbelievable.
Now, of course,
we had Knowhere in Guardians Vol.1.
It was a pretty simple set.
We actually built it outdoors.
And this is quite an upgrade to that.
This is truly an extraordinary set.
I feel they could take this piece by piece
and put it in Disneyland,
and it would be a ride.
It's unbelievable. It's three stories.
Exceptional craftsmanship
and, you know
The opening of the movie
takes place right here,
and, man-o-man, I don't know,
they didn't spare any expense
when building this set.
And we've got, I don't know,
probably over 100 extras,
full alien makeup.
Show yourselves, guys.
Look over here. Wave.
Look at some of these folks.
Look at that makeup.
You in the blue, how long did that take?
WOMAN: Two seconds. It's a mask.
- Oh.
- [ALL LAUGHING]
Two hours! We're going to fix it.
It took nine hours
in the makeup trailer, uh,
just because she's a diva
and needed to get a foot massage.
- It's just a mask?
- Yeah.
- This one takes two hours.
- Two hours.
- MAN: Three hours.
- Three hours over here.
See? A lot of manpower. But, hey
it's the final Guardians of the Galaxy,
so we went big, you know.
Go big or go home.
Welcome to Knowhere.
This is, uh, Rocket's
apartment here.
He's got all sorts of
little machinery parts.
You can tell what his life is all about,
machines, things like that
and building stuff.
That's his bed.
And this is where he puts
the Zune in the cradle
listening to Heart.
And then this is where Adam Warlock
is going to smash through over here,
grab him here, smash through that wall
Boom! Boom! We're gonna shoot all that.
And then smashes
into Peter Quill's bedroom.
Smashes through here.
He's got all this old video game stuff
that he's collected
from junkers and Earth stuff.
Smashes through there
and smashes through there,
going directly above Quill
who has moved his
Uh, you can see he's moved
the cassette player
from the Milano into his bedroom.
And then smashes
and they land on that roof over there.
Oh, hell.
Here on Knowhere,
we see Kraglin and Cosmo.
Oh, yeah, we introduce that dynamic duo.
[ZAPPING AND BEEPING]
[SHRIEKS]
COSMO: Bozhe moi, Kraglin.
- You must know will never learn.
- You think you could do better?
COSMO: Da.
We gender swapped Cosmo.
- I believe in the comics
- 'Cause Cosmo is a man.
HATT: Yeah, and Cosmo's obviously
based on the dogs
that the Russians sent to space
at the beginning of the Space Race.
I think one in particular was Laika,
who was a female dog.
That's why we did the gender swap
in honor of Laika,
the original dog
that went to went to space
- Dog cosmonaut.
- and did not come back, sadly.
GUNN: I always wanted to pull in Cosmo.
I just didn't know how to do it.
You know, it made just sense
that she would show up
because we already knew that Cosmo
was in Knowhere from the first movie,
so being able to then, um, have her become
an actual character was important.
Nebula? Nebula, did you hear?
He called me a bad dog,
and he refused to take it back.
We actually did
a pretty wide search for Cosmo.
We auditioned a lot of different actors.
Cosmo was being played
by the very talented Maria Bakalova.
GUNN: She is just always just very sweet
and very good natured.
Very open with her emotions.
Very exuberant.
She has that dog-like quality in her
that we all love about dogs.
Kraglin, Cosmo, I need you to keep watch.
over Knowhere till we're back.
Couple of days, tops.
Aye, comrade.
I located the coordinates for OrgoCorp.
I have a contact near there.
- Maybe they can help us get in.
- Contact him.
Let's go save our friend.
BETH MICKLE: James really cares about
everything being in camera,
which is incredible from
a production designer's standpoint,
a set-design standpoint,
that's music to our ears.
In the first draft
for Guardians of the Galaxy 3,
our Orgoscope planet was originally
scripted as a gyroscopic planet,
so the first week or two, my initial
research was all going toward that.
James and I started talking
about what happened on this planet,
and it's all genetic research,
and it's all experimentation.
And so he felt, you know,
that it might be more interesting
if the planet itself was entirely organic,
as if the scientist had grown it
from the beginning,
and that was the origin of it.
And it really rooted it,
in an interesting story point
that made sense
with what they're doing on this planet.
But then it gave this incredible challenge
to myself in the art department
and Judianna in the costume department
to try to come up with a planet
that's entirely organically grown,
but still a place
that you want to spend time. [CHUCKLES]
If you can look here,
you can see your spacesuits floating
by that window outside.
- Ha!
- Right?
Damn it!
GUNN: We are in the Orgoscope,
which is both the most beautiful
and most disgusting set we've ever had
in the Guardians universe.
It looks like, uh,
kind of a wonderful colonoscopy
if you're walking through it.
But [LAUGHING] So
But it's It's
Yeah, I mean, this is a
You know, I wanted to create a place
that is architecturally different
than other places we've seen so far.
And the way the Orgoscope was created
is they actually grow the materials.
So it's composed of bone,
it's composed of organs they use,
you know, organs and flesh.
The suits that they're wearing
are composed of like a sort of flesh
that's grown that insulates them
and protects them.
[GRUNTING]
GUNN: Orgosentries were something that
I thought of them at first as maybe
being a little bit more crab-like,
and then I saw the crab costumes
and it looked like
things that we'd seen before.
And so I said,
"Well, what if they're made of flesh?
"Like, they grow these costumes."
And Shane and the team over at Legacy
came up with this crazy costume
that looks like something
out of a French art film,
or it looks like one of those sumo
wrestler costumes that you put on
and, you know, it protects you through
the actual girth of the costume.
And it isn't shaped at all
what we think of as the sort of
hyper-masculine tough shape
that we think of soldiers
as often being in movies.
It's very poofy with the big butt.
And it's great to see Nathan Fillion
playing Major Karja
walking around like
he's the most hardcore dude in the world.
Let's go, dummies.
MICKLE: The set that we're shooting
today is Orgo Space Park,
and we're shooting a scene where Drax
and Mantis fight all the Orgosentries.
MAN: Here we go. Ready and action!
We did some pretty fun things
at the Orgoscope Space Park.
Dave Bautista, he's a badass.
We did come in trying to give Mantis
a little different kind of a flare,
so we came up with some really fun
alternate options for them.
- You're a kitty cat.
- Meow.
[GRUNTS]
You feel like dancing.
We're always trying to push the envelope
and do what we think is unique.
We just push it, you know,
we just have fun with it.
[BOTH SCREAMING]
MAN: Cut! Cut, cut.
Pom is Out of all of us,
she's probably the most artistic, I think.
She's really, like,
almost a throwback performer.
She's almost from a different era.
[IN GROWLING VOICE] No!
- Hello.
- Hello.
PRATT: She's like a thrill seeker.
She's off parachuting and horseback riding
and doing all of this crazy stuff.
I'm learning French now.
[APPLAUDING]
PRATT: Learning all of these martial arts.
Can I do more kicking, though?
Kick him in the face?
[CHUCKLES] Pom is probably my
She's my favorite Guardian.
Mantis is my favorite Guardian.
I [LAUGHS] I think not only is she
a brilliant actress,
but what she does
with this character is so fun.
And she has such a sweet
innocence about her.
But also, she's really
You know, she can be a sarcastic little
- Hello!
- [LAUGHING]
We've really kind of dove into that,
you know,
that sibling rivalry.
Get in there and say,
"Are you kidding me?"
- In his face?
- Yeah.
I love working with Dave.
He's amazing. He's like soft-spoken,
but also he can be very loud sometimes,
like acting-wise.
Ha!
You're lucky
I was able to knock down that door
And also for what he stands for,
and I really respect that.
But he's also very sweet,
you know, and so funny.
And the dynamic between the characters
is so well written by James.
We just have fun with it.
It is wrong to manipulate
the feelings of friends.
You made me fall in love with my sock.
Well, that was funny.
It is a majestic performance by Dave.
Drax is ridiculous,
but also we totally believe him.
He's completely believable
and emotionally grounded.
And we get to see, really, his origins
in this movie in a way as well.
I had a little girl like you.
You know what she used to like?
She liked when I made monkey noises.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
[MIMICKING MONKEY POORLY]
[GIRLS LAUGH]
PRATT: I can't imagine anyone else
playing Drax. It's totally Dave.
It has been Dave
since the moment he walked in
and he and I screen tested together.
Everybody knew.
You'll get to kill this guy,
but you got to help us sell this.
Which means, no matter
what I tell you to do, you do it. Okay?
Or we can decide together
is what I'm saying.
Well for the most part,
you'll make the decisions, okay?
[DAVE LAUGHS]
PRATT: I start to get sentimental
thinking about
the fact that over the past ten years,
we've spent so much time together.
Granted, he's been in grey and red
makeup the whole time,
so without his makeup on,
I don't recognize him,
but we've spent a lot of time together.
Five movies, press tours, premieres
and to think that none of those things
are going to be happening
in our lives anymore,
I hope that doesn't mean that
we don't spend time together.
Because I'd miss him.
I got your back, big boy.
Okay? I got your back.
I won't touch you again.
That's the last time I touch you.
Okay. I'm glad I did that.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
HATT: The High Evo
has been continuing his work.
You know, he's been building planets,
populating them with species,
and we get to see one.
We go to Counter-Earth,
which is populated
with what we call the Humanimals.
And it's like a Island of Dr. Moreau.
It's weird and wonderful.
And Alexei and Shane Mahan
and Lindsay MacGowan of Legacy
have done incredible work
bringing those characters to life.
Okay. Great.
All right, let's see that again.
PRATT: You've got bat people
and turtle people,
and rabbit people,
and these, like, kind of a warthog people.
- The adorable baby.
- I know.
- He's gorgeous. He looks like
- Yeah.
PRATT: But they're all rocking
clothes from the '80s.
It's the funniest thing.
GUNN: We had a huge makeup team
creating all of these characters
and sort of doing it in a way
that we had A's, B's and C's.
A's were the really full done makeups
that were in the front
that were going to be featured.
B's were a little bit further back.
You might see glimpses of them,
but we're not going to do
close-ups of them.
And then the C's wore
kind of, more simple masks
that people could pull on
and we could put way in the background.
That all had to be very planned out.
It was like, in this scene,
how many Humanimals are in this shot?
How many are in this shot?
How many are in all of this scene
and just figuring all of that out,
so that we could, you know,
make the movie work as well as possible.
This is the perfect society?
Those Humanimal days were absolutely huge.
Our background tent was gigantic.
We have all of our trailers packed.
All of them wore teeth, contacts,
they all have hands and all that stuff.
It was a big undertaking for us,
for Legacy.
Legacy Effects,
they absolutely made just amazing pieces.
Beautiful hair work,
custom wigs for all of them,
custom hairpieces.
Having them all on set was super exciting
because it was just
so many different looks
and they were all practical.
They made a cassowary bird.
It was, I think,
the postal worker, Blue Jay.
Those were really, really cool.
They turned out amazing.
But the R&D behind that is really cool.
They have a lot of 3D printed elements
with magnets
and the beak and the whole locking jaw,
so the actor gets to drive
the movement of the whole beak.
Groot, full kaiju!
- Not full kaiju!
- I am
- Groot!
- Back up.
No, not kaiju!
Groot, down!
There's no reason to be afraid.
We're not here to harm you.
[SPEAKS ALIEN LANGUAGE]
GUNN: It was originally written
as "vampire bat family,"
and then I said, "But you know,
this is just a placeholder,
"because let's go through
all the different designs and see
"which design
is the best for this family."
And I ended up liking
the vampire bats the best.
Her look especially.
She's fantastic in that role.
That's a real language.
I created a real language
that has grammar and everything to it.
[SPEAKING ALIEN LANGUAGE]
I love seeing the worlds
that ends up being created
because having an actor in makeup
doing the role,
you can see it, you can feel it.
It's the way to go.
There's more makeup applications
on this film than any movie in history.
They beat out The Grinch.
Which, of course, every character
in The Grinch is a Whovillian.
- PRATT: Yeah.
- GUNN: And so, we have more than them.
It's crazy.
Guinness Book of World Records.
Way to go.
MONEYMAKER: The sets we're shooting today
were scripted as being separate sets.
It was the Batch 89 caged hallways
where they're keeping the animals,
the cloisters
where they keep the children,
the Evolutionary Chamber where
the High Evo does his experiments.
But we thought it'd be interesting
to link the sets together
so that you can see
from one set to the next
and make the world feel bigger
and more cohesive.
And so, now, James is taking
great advantage of it,
and he's having the choreography
of his final battle take place,
starts in the hallway,
comes down through a vestibule,
lands into our Evolutionary Chamber,
and it lets the choreography
sprawl around the space.
And we're about to shoot
the big finale of the film.
Ready? And action!
KLEMENTIEFF: I really enjoyed
working with Heidi Moneymaker
who's been stunt coordinating
for the movie,
and she used to be
Scarlett Johansson's stunt double,
so she's really, really skilled herself,
and also she's amazing at
you know, choreographing the whole thing.
[GRUNTING]
She wanted to make sure
that I got to do some action
because she knew that I loved doing it
and I was craving to do it.
So that was really great
to get to work with her for sure.
It's fun. I'm kicking someone in the face.
Fake kicking.
You want to see all the Guardians
fight together at one time,
and a lot of these movies
are about pulling them apart,
coming back together,
pulling them apart, you know?
Then we get a moment
where they're all together,
but even then,
they're not usually fully together,
and this was them,
really, fully together, working as a team.
This was just a labor of love and passion
for I think everybody on this set.
We've been planning it and working it out
and redoing it and redoing it
since probably September, October,
which is like six months.
It took us a while
to get the wire gags down
because they were very complicated.
And I think in the beginning of this,
I thought,
"This could not go well for us."
[CHUCKLES]
And it ended up being visually
one of my favorite things that we've done.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
GILLAN: What's cool about these movies
is they do a previs of the whole thing
and they even shoot it
with the stunt doubles
from all the angles that
they will be shooting it from.
So you kind of get to see
a version of the movie shot on an iPhone
and you think, "I'm doing that
and that's how I'm going to look,
"but slightly worse because I'm not
a trained martial artist." [LAUGHS]
PRATT: This technology is
constantly emerging.
What we have now
in terms of the cameras that we can use,
they are incredibly light.
So they can be handheld,
and because they can be handheld,
you can design action sequences
that are really
unlike anything done before
because the camera operator becomes
just as big a part of the stunt sequence
as the stunt performers and the actors.
GILLAN: At one point,
the camera operator was on wires
and he got hoisted up over me
as I was like being punched in the face.
So that was really intricate, actually,
and required a lot of rehearsal.
And so, we just spent a lot of time
getting that right.
It was quite nerve-racking on the day
because in a one shot,
you need to get
everything perfect within one take.
You can do it a few times,
but the pressure is definitely on.
When you guys come together,
there's a moment between you two
where you're the leaders of this team,
totally in charge.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Need to get help moving the rope.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- So I'll be like
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
Am I meant to be behind him?
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[ALL LAUGHING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
James wanted to showcase each character,
like, a couple beats from each character,
and we flow from character
to character to character.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
Chris really brought a lot to it.
He loves to come into train
and he really learns his choreo.
And then, whatever we give him,
he always ups it
because then he's Star-Lord.
So, like, we give him something
and then he just slaps
all these additional layers on top of it
and we're always like Oh!
What's up, everybody?
So we're getting into shooting
some pretty cool action sequences
that'll basically take us
into the third act.
We've got Chris Romrell
up on this podium up there.
And he's sort of modeling, uh
what he wants
what they want me to do.
It always looks better when he does it,
but I'm going to try my best
to make it work. So I'll be
You can't tell from this camera angle but
that's several hundred feet in the air.
I'll be hoisted up there.
They like to use these wires for Romrell,
but I won't have them.
I insist on not having wires.
That's all about you flying.
Am I going to have to have
any core strength for this?
- Nope.
- Oh, good.
[ALL LAUGHING]
- You're ready?
- We're ready.
Are you guys good?
- Henry? All right.
- Okay.
- PRATT: Raise the meat.
- All right.
PRATT: They have these LED panels
giving off the light,
basically creating
the effect of fire all around us
and then they'll animate all of that.
I insisted that we use real fire.
They kind of chickened out,
and so, I guess
we can't burn the place down.
And, yeah, this is just
one day in the life.
It's taken a few hours to get this set up,
and it will be three seconds in the movie.
So, standby.
Did that
look cool?
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]
To be reunited with this Guardians family
for Vol. 3, it's
It's really special.
And I know that it's rare
to have a rapport like we have,
as many years
as we've put in the trenches together.
Still very much a family,
just like the story, really.
What makes it different this time around
is we know that it's coming to an end.
So I think each of us is,
you know, processing that in our own way.
Ahhh! This is too upsetting in a good way.
There is a bittersweet taste
because we know that
it's the last
Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
We're going to have one more scene
with all the Guardians together.
Chris reminded me that yesterday.
So that's going to be very emotional.
Yeah, that's it.
That's the last shot
with who I basically consider the,
you know, full Guardians.
Chris and Zoe,
and Dave, Karen, Pom and Sean.
And these are the guys who have been
together with me for nine years now.
And I love each of you guys.
We still have another day
of filming together,
just not in the same scene.
- Um
- Aw.
So I really do love all you guys.
And honest to God,
I couldn't be luckier to have
I hate doing this in front of the camera,
but I'll do it
because I wanted to say
to you guys earlier
that I've been so incredibly blessed
to have this group of people,
and I tell everyone I meet all the time,
as my partners on this journey.
It has just been an amazing thing
because I really, honestly,
love each of you guys so deeply.
As people, as performers, and as friends.
And I love you all.
So thank you for being here with me
on this journey.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]
SEAN: Being on set with everyone
and knowing that
there's a little bit of finality
to how we're approaching
these final scenes is really
It's emotional.
I think that we're all savoring
every moment in a way.
In some ways,
the set has been more fun as a result.
I think we've
We've laughed as much as ever
because we know
that there's an end point.
- Hey, James. Love you.
- I love you.
- Did you catch that? Erase it.
- Yep.
[ALL LAUGHING]
[CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]
It's a little sad,
but it's also so joyful.
I mean, who gets to do this, you know?
Who gets to, like,
make something that audiences seem to love
and that we can feel proud of,
and know that we put our hearts into it?
GUNN: If people ask me really,
honestly, truly,
what's my favorite part
of making Guardians of the Galaxy,
- it's working with my brother.
- [CREW APPLAUDING]
He's a great brother and a great friend,
but most of all,
it's just been so fun to watch him.
The first time I heard about the project
of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1,
I had gotten a call from my agent,
and she just said, without any context,
"Are you willing to shave your head?"
And I was like, "What for?"
And she said, "For a Marvel movie."
And then I said, "Yes."
I might have done something
a little bit crazy.
[CROWD CHEERING AND LAUGHING]
I'm bald.
I thought I was going to be filming
for eight days,
and then I thought
that was going to be it.
So ten years ago,
I stood in my office with Karen Gillan,
and I told her,
"This role isn't so big in this movie,
"but I plan on her being
a Guardian of the Galaxy in the future."
The kind of things I tell people
all the time and I'm always wrong.
But this person really came through
and just has shown us how great she is
and what a team player she is
to have to come in
all these days so early.
And I love her and I'm going to miss her.
And that is a trilogy wrap
- on Karen Gillan.
- [CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]
This whole experience has enriched my life
in so many different ways.
I mean, like
It was my first big movie
that I'd ever done.
And how lucky am I
that it was as good a movie
as Guardians of the Galaxy was?
And not only that,
but I was given this incredible character
that I got to explore
over the course of six films.
You okay?
- Is it okay to be sad?
- Mmm-hmm.
It's the end of a journey
'cause this started my career.
I mean, it launched my career
and it changed my life.
He's a diva,
and he doesn't like Behind the Scenes
of him taken.
Stop it. Stop that.
Bautista.
BAUTISTA: This journey coming to an end
is just a very bittersweet thing
because I'm so attached to everybody.
I'm proud of what we've accomplished.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]
We've been on this film since October,
so we really want to finish,
and then we think,
"But this is the last one." [LAUGHS]
No, we don't want to finish.
We wanna stretch this out.
And we need to be good joob joob.
It means friends.
SALDANA: To live within
the Marvel universe
has been nothing but a treat. It's
It's a part of my legacy
that I will so proudly take on with me,
you know?
And And I hope
that my children are proud.
You know, I have three little boys
and they are already becoming
die-hard fans of these characters.
When I first went to Marvel
and I pitched Guardians of the Galaxy,
I brought a little book.
I had worked very hard
trying to put this little book together
of all the different pictures
and photo references and all that stuff.
And within that book,
there were all the characters listed
and who I thought
should play those characters.
And, of course, none of those actors
who were in that book
ended up playing the character,
except for Zoe Saldana,
who I met and loved from the beginning.
SALDANA: It makes me feel really good.
It makes me feel lucky.
It makes me feel fortunate.
It makes me feel proud,
you know, to know so many people
that I look up to and I respect deeply
that live also in this universe, among me.
Every time I feel like
I'm about to fall out of my sorts,
I look around and I see people
that give up so much to be here
because they have a true passion,
a genuine, sincere love
for what we do,
and that always reminds me
that we are very blessed and very lucky
and very fortunate to be here.
And I want to thank you
because you have been a wonderful person.
You believed in me
before I even believed in myself.
So thank you for sticking by me.
And I'm gonna miss Gamora,
but I'm not going to miss
the four-hour makeup.
[ALL LAUGHING]
So [LAUGHS]
GUNN: I'm really just trying to make
the best movie I can,
that's fluid and elegant.
"Elegant" as a word I use the most
while shooting it,
while writing it, while editing it.
It's got to have elegance to it.
And it's really been rewarding
for me to make this movie,
which is such a personal statement,
because Rocket is me and this is about me.
And then to see an audience react to it
in a way that they have so far,
it's a good feeling for real.
I'm really grateful for the experience
and especially grateful
for the people that I've been
able to work with along the way.
[ALL CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]
I think the the life with the characters
and the actors
and the shooting and everything,
is more alive in this movie
than anything I've done.
And I think even the the setbacks
that happened along the way,
all were in the service
of the greater story.
That's a picture and trilogy wrap
on James Gunn.
[ALL CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]
PRATT: What it's meant to me
to be a part of this franchise,
I mean, it's hard to even put into words.
I've wanted to be an actor my whole life
and didn't know what that would entail.
If I had just been able to pay the bills,
jumping from job to job,
still I'd feel as though
I'd been living the dream,
and I'd have been really content.
The fact that I get to be part of
something that's so universally beloved
that I truly believe
will stand the test of time,
that will be living on screens long after
I'm no longer living on this planet,
it's special.
And it feels It feels remarkable.
You just feel blessed.
May all of us be as lucky
as to work on something
and be part of the collaborative
creative process of creating something
that is so meaningful to so many people,
to make extraordinary friends
along the way
and to help each other
to essentially
live out our dreams. Thank you.
It's been a blast.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
Chris' trailer is like
on the other side of the lot.
My trailer is here
right next to where we're shooting.
So Chris comes in here every day,
and falls asleep.
And he's the soundest sleeper of all time.
So I decided today is a good day
to draw some stuff on his forehead.
[LAUGHS] All right, let's get in here.
You know, maybe a "peace" symbol or
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Yeah. Come on in. I'm with
- What the
- What's up, bro?
- I thought you were asleep.
- Huh?
- I thought you were
- I was gonna come and grab a nap.
What's up?
Look, what's this?
[LAUGHING]
It's a Chris dummy.
Um, what we're going to do today
is we're going to see,
if you get in here close, Jeremy,
you'll see the "Chris" face up close.
It's a fake Chris Pratt
that we carry
at the beginning of the movie.
- He's only What, he's like 25 pounds?
- 25 pounds.
Yeah, that Karen Gillan
is able to carry for a long time
at the beginning of the film.
Yeah, this thing is absolutely photo-real.
I mean, look at this thing.
The first time I saw it, honest to God,
I walked into set
and I saw it lying there
in full Quill wardrobe
- Yeah.
- from the movie.
And I honestly had a bit of a
Like, a visceral reaction,
as if I was seeing my own dead body.
It felt very weird.
Like an out-of-body experience.
Because obviously, it's lifeless,
but it looks so much like me.
And then my next thought
as I got close was,
"Oh, my God, my poor wife."
Like, "This is how big my face is?
It's crazy."
That's not how large my head is, is it?
You're pretty large.
I feel bad for her.
And look at this wrists and hands.
I was like, "This is not my hands.
That's my dad's hands."
Those wrists are bendier than your hands.
They're floppier than mine.
- Argh! No!
- [GUNN LAUGHING]
Anyways, this thing is awesome.
That's going to make it
into the Disney Behind the Scenes.
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