James Gunn Details The Massive Scale Of Guardians Of The Galaxy

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-James-GunnWith the release of Thor: The Dark World this weekend, Marvel is, understandably, at the forefront of many minds. And given that we’ve heard rumblings and rumors about the obligatory post-credits scenes, we’ve also been thinking quite a bit about the impending Guardians of the Galaxy adaptation. On his way to the premiere of the new sequel, Guardians director James Gunn stopped just long enough to dispense a few more details about his film, which recently wrapped principal photography.

Talking to Crave Online, the Slither director provided some information that helps bring the bigger picture of his film into clearer focus. He dropped tidbits about characters, special effects, and storylines, as well as taking some time to praise the cast and crew he worked with.

Since appearing at the tail end of The Avengers, Thanos has been a hot topic of conversation when it comes to the Marvel Universe. Gunn says, “Thanos is a character in our movie.” You have to appreciate the simple clarity of that statement, even though an actor still hasn’t officially been attached to the part. He continues, “He [Thanos] works with Ronan. In my movie Ronan works for Thanos, and Ronan is the main bad guy in our film.”

From this, it doesn’t sound like Thanos is going to be a huge part of Guardians, at least in the foreground. If Ronan, played by Lee Pace, works for Thanos, then the big boss’ presence and influence are going to be definite factors in the story, even if his screen time winds up being rather limited.

Gunn also promises “lots of amazing things to see,” which includes a mix of computer generated and practical special effects. As he says, “Our sets are enormous.” There is apparently a prison set that is made up of more than 350,000 pounds of steel. That definitely qualifies as “enormous” in our book, and now we can’t wait to see what that looks like onscreen. And as if that isn’t enough, he says, “Our spaceships are utterly beautiful.”

And maybe it is hyperbole, but when Gunn talks about his cast, you can’t help but feel his enthusiasm. Especially for star Chris Pratt, who plays Star-Lord/Peter Quill, the leader of a gang of intergalactic misfits cum deep space superheroes. Gunn calls him funny, masculine, and vulnerable, among other adjectives, and says that he’s about to become the biggest movie star in the known world. The maverick director doesn’t stop there, heaping accolades on cast members like Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and former professional wrestler Dave Bautista.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens August 1, 2014, and also stars John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Michael Rooker, Ophelia Lovibong, Benicio Del Toro, Djimon Honsou, Karen Gillan, and maybe Vin Diesel.

Check out the entire video below, but be warned, it does contain some spoilers for Thor: The Dark World.