While much of the buzz surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy is who’ll nab the lead role, Marvel writer and film consultant Brian Michael Bendis recently made an effort to comment on the space epic’s latest draft by writer-director James Gunn. Like a few Star-Lord contenders have done in the past, Bendis praised the script, via Newsarama, for Marvel’s first non-sequel ‘Phase Two’ addition.
“I’m not allowed to say anything specific — it’s a great script. It really turned out great. James Gunn did a really great job. I read the last draft — "Oh please, don’t suck, because I’ve already invested part of my life into this — and I was like, "Oh, this is great! This is going to be a lot of fun!” As you may already know, Bendis is scripting the ongoing Marvel NOW! series for Guardians with Steve McNiven. “It’s a very unique experience of writing the comic while the movie is getting ready to go. Every day people hear something about the movie. That’s very cool, because we’ve been helping with it secretly for years. Bendis also says that the movie’s casting buzz during promotion for his Marvel NOW! series is, “A nice surprise. It wasn’t fully planned this way, but it is cool that there’s always some Guardians of the Galaxy news in the nerd press every day.”
Speaking of casting, the last we heard about the long-gestured process is that James Gunn and Marvel were testing Wes Bentley, Chris Lowell and Cam Gigandet for Peter Quill, while they’ve reportedly offered roles to Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler. Though the reports didn’t come from the trades, they’ve yet to be debunked. And filming starts in London this summer. What do you think?
Marvel Studios presents “Guardians of the Galaxy”—A big space epic featuring an unlikely cast of Marvel characters, including Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Groot and Rocket Raccoon, who must team up in order to defeat a cosmic force of epic proportions. Directed by James Gunn from a screenplay by James Gunn, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is based on the Marvel comic book series “Guardians of the Galaxy,” first published in 1969 and revived in 2008. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will distribute “Guardians of the Galaxy” on August 1, 2014, in 3D. In addition, Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on other iconic Marvel characters including “Iron Man 3” on May 3, 2013; “Thor: The Dark World ” on November 8, 2013; “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on April 4, 2014; the sequel to “Marvel's The Avengers” on May 1, 2015; and “Ant-Man” on November 6, 2015!