James Gunn On 'Star-Lord's' Father And Not Repeating Elements In GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2
Revealing why Star-Lord's origins were changed for the movie, the Guardians of the Galaxy helmer says his space misfits are more flawed than the Avengers while explaining his approach to the sequel.
In anticipation of the Guardians of the Galaxy Blu-ray and DVD release next month, director/co-writer James Gunn took part in a press event yesterday when he talked in-depth about his space epic Marvel adaptation, as well as its summer 2017 sequel. When asked how (or rather if) the success of Guardians has influenced "Phase Three" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn said: "...Who knows how much we've influenced Phase Three, but I think the one thing is that the Guardians aren't backseat to The Avengers. Captain America, Thor, those other movies really do support The Avengers and they do take a back seat. But The Guardians are their own thing and the cosmic side of the universe is its own thing. Because the movie was so successful, and more successful than Iron Man was, that changed the way other people looked at it, but I still look at it the same way." About his approach to Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the director says, "the main thing with moving on is that we can't just repeat ourselves." He added, "We can't just say, 'Okay let's start with something sad and shift into something really happy with some music, and let's have the Awesome Mix work in the same way, but with songs from the '80s as opposed to songs from the '70s.' And all of those things... that doesn't interest me. For me, the shift is about getting to know the characters on a deeper level, knowing them more intimately, and uncovering facets of the characters that make them more real to us. Because at the center of it, I think what works about Guardians is that people like the characters."
James Gunn then reassured that the sequel will delve deeper into the characters' backstories. "Looking more deeply into the characters themselves and who they are and what they think and what their flaws are and what their strengths are, you know," he said. "They're a much more flawed group than The Avengers. They have major, major issues." While on the subject of exploring more backstories, James Gunn was then asked about the big Guardians of the Galaxy cliffhanger question: Who is Peter Quill's father? "[Star-Lord's] origins are different in the movie," he said. "I just thought there was a more interesting way to go for the Cinematic Universe that was more believable. There's things in the comic book that, on film, seemed to come out a little too Star Wars to me. And I'm not a great fan of the name J'son. So there will be a lot of difference. You know, this really is the Cinematic Universe and the fun of it for me, you know I always loved the Marvel Ultimate Comics that presented a different story on the way that we're used to, and we saw characters in a new light and they could show up in different places, different ages, different ways. And I think that's exactly what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is. We see things in a different light. They established that very well at the end of Iron Man where Tony Stark says 'I am Iron Man.' That was like Marvel Cinematic Universe's way of saying 'we're different from the comics.'"
Finally, before confirming "the story is written" for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, James Gunn said that he was indeed thinking of larger Marvel Cosmic Universe while making the first Guardians movie, however, that does not mean he was thinking of a third film; like recent headlines have suggested. "There was a big rash of 'James Gunn Was Thinking Of Ideas For Guardians of the Galaxy 3.' I don’t think I really said that. What I said was 'I had ideas for Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I knew what I was going to do for that, and I had ideas for beyond that.' That doesn’t necessarily mean Guardians of the Galaxy 3 because there are a lot of different characters in this movie that could go in a lot of different directions. And some of the characters I’m most interested in aren’t necessarily Guardians of the Galaxy." Anyhow, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 hits May 5, 2017.
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