The Nerd Stash recently attended an exclusive press conference hosted by Disney for the upcoming MCU film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. Director James Gunn, Kevin Feige, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Pom Klemetieff, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Maria Bakalova, and Sean Gunn each participated in the event, with Nathan Fillion serving as the moderator. The official synopsis for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 reads as, our beloved band of misfits is looking a bit different these days. Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them. The film is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, and Maria Bakalova.
James Gunn on Saying Goodbye to the Characters
James Gunn: “I’m gonna miss the characters. That’s the saddest part for me, is I really, truly love these characters. I love all of them. I think there’s certain ones that I have a special fondness for, especially Rocket. And yeah, the saddest part of all of this. I’m gonna see all these people again. They’re all friends of mine. But I’m not gonna see the character. I’m not gonna be writing the characters again, at least not in the near future. And so, that’s a real sadness.”
Chris Pratt on Peter Quill Finding Who He Really is
Chris Pratt: “He’s a guy and there’s a wonderful monologue that Dave Bautista gives that, you know, comes from Mantis that Quill is a guy who needs to learn how to swim. He’s been hopping from lily pad to lily pad, woman to woman, and relationship to relationship. I think that’s a pretty human condition. Â I think, oftentimes, we find ourselves in our relationships or in the affiliations we have with a team or a family or whatever. And he has been lost.”
He continues: “So, yeah, in the beginning, he was running away from the death of his mother, but he got to pretend to be this character based on these pop culture icons of his childhood of the late-’80s. And so, he was dancing around, but all of that was really, he had found himself there. But it was kinda B.S., you know? And then he found himself with the Guardians of the Galaxy. And then he thought he could find himself with who his father was.
So, he’s a guy who’s constantly been searching for who he is. And then he found it again in his relationship with Gamora. And so, when that’s stripped away from him, he’s a guy who’s realizing that all of these various people that he’s found that are Quill, none of them have been the real him. And so, he is, he’s lost. And that probably does mean that he’s sad.”
Kevin Feige Reflecting on the MCU’s Guardians Trilogy
Kevin Feige: “You know, we’ve had trilogies before. We’ve had a number of them, actually. And I was thinking, why does this feel so different and so much of a passage of some sort? And it’s because Guardians of the Galaxy really was the first movie that was completely outside of the realm. It tied in with Thanos and Infinity Stones. But The Avengers were not in it. And we weren’t setting up Tony Stark’s next adventure, or Captain America. And it was really our attempt of saying, we don’t wanna just do superhero movies.
We don’t want to just do Iron Man movies or Avengers movies. And we wanted to do, as James said earlier, a big space movie. And it worked in a crazy way. It worked entirely because of James Gunn. So, it just feels like this trilogy, and James writing and directing all three of them, it represents something unique within the pantheon of the MCU, that I’m very proud of.”
Pom Klementieff on How the MCU & James Gunn Changed Her Life
Pom Klementieff: “OH, my God. I mean, for me, it’s not Mantis. It’s like, Mantis and James Gunn. James changed my life. And getting to play Mantis, I got, I mean, you know, she’s an empath, you know? So, you have to have a deeper connection with everything and everyone. So, it’s, like, beautiful to tap in and create deep, profound, and layered emotions, you know? And yeah. And then I got to be super weird, which is really fun to do, too.”
She adds: “I love playing this character, and I’m so grateful for James to have, you know, given me this opportunity. And to get to play with all these incredible actors. And I think each character, they complete each other, too, you know? And I remember James telling me that Mantis was kind of like the glue that kept the Guardians of the Galaxy together in some ways, you know? I think it’s beautiful, and I think, you know, the world lacks a lot of empathy, too, you know? Yeah, so it’s a beautiful message, too.”
Chukwudi Iwuji on Joining the MCU & Getting into the Mindset of the High Evolutionary
Chukwudi Iwuji: “It was very dark. Because between James telling me he wanted me to play the role and doing the screen test, I had a lot of downtime. You were filming an episode that I wasn’t in in Peacemaker. So, I was in Vancouver at the time. And so, to answer this question is, the first thing that’s written when you meet him is him listening to Space Opera.
So, immediately I knew classical music was gonna be a big part of this character. Because I didn’t know where I was gonna go with him. I thought I would just listen to a lot of my favorite arias and classical, and sent them to, and they actually, one or two of them made it onto the film. So, a lot of finding this guy, for me, was saying, there’s something. If he’s listening to opera and he’s in space opera and he’s this mad scientist sort of person, I just thought of someone that doesn’t sleep. That’s someone that’s obsessed with it, listening to this music. He needs the music as he wanders through his castle at night. And I thought very deeply about Henry IV. He has a great speech about, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown. How many thousands of my poorest subjects that at this moment, are asleep.” And I sent that to James.
So, that’s where, it’s like, it wasn’t really about specifically how do I play the character written. It’s like, how do I bring this guy into the room. Because I knew that would be taken care of in the script, the motivations and the moments and stuff are impeccably written. Because he deals with character. So, it was about, who is this guy before he turns up on the set, you know?”
Will Poulter on Joining the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 Cast
Will Poulter: “Oh, my gosh. I couldn’t have been, like, made to feel more welcome by everybody. Like, honestly, you know, I was nervous from the outside looking in. I think because I was a really big fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. And within the MCU, this was the trilogy, as it now is, of films that I was kind of the biggest admirer of. And so, you look at something as a fan, and you think, that’s cool, to be able to appreciate that as a fan, you know, for what it is. And that’s what it will always be. You don’t imagine yourself being a part of it. So, that in itself was exciting. And then to have, you know, an experience characterized by all of these lovely people making me feel so welcome.”
He continues: “And something that I thought was gonna be really scary actually just being really good fun, you know? I think because of what James said, you know, is so true, that, you know, ha makes a point of making set a really fun environment and then surrounds himself with really great people. So, across every department, you know, not just the acting department, but, like, every department, there are wonderful people, and it just made the experience so, so fun. Which is really, like, really important. ‘Cause there’s pressure and, you know, as a new kid, I was pretty scared, so that made it easy.”
The upcoming MCU film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is currently scheduled to arrive only in theaters on May 5th.