Lee Pace Assures You That Guardians Of The Galaxy Kicks Ass
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Over the past few years, Marvel has dominated the comic book cinema wars. With the exception of the Dark Knight movies, DC hasn’t done much. All of the big recent comic adaptations have been Marvel—even if not produced by Marvel Studios, the likes of The Amazing Spider-Man and the X-Men movies are still Marvel titles. Next year they’re taking their biggest risk to date by bringing one of their lesser-known titles, Guardians of the Galaxy, to the big screen. But don’t worry, Lee Pace, who plays the film’s main villain, assures you that the movie kicks ass.
Talking with Total Film, Pace discussed the unusual nature of the film, and what makes it so damn much fun. As he says, “A raccoon with a machine gun!” In all honesty, you don’t need to say much more than that, and you have out attention. We’ve certainly watched movies based on far less, so the idea of Rocket Racoon, a ring-tailed night-bandit, running around with heavy artillery is a prospect that we find incredibly intriguing. Add to this fact that there’s a huge talking tree that only says one thing, “I am Groot,” and you start to get an idea of the strangeness this film is bringing.
In recent days, we’ve seen Pace onscreen less and less frequently as a human being. He says:
It’s been quite an interesting year. I don’t know if I’ll ever play a human again! I was a vampire in Twilight, the king of the elves in The Hobbit and now an alien warlord in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Pace plays Ronan the Accuser, an alien of the Kree race. As a member of an aristocratic family, he rises through the ranks of the Accuser Corps and becomes a force to be reckoned with. From the sound of things, Pace had a damn fine time playing intergalactic bad guy, and got super into the part. He says:
It was awesome! That movie’s going to kick ass! We’ve just knocked it out of the park, it’s going to be wild! I kept looking over at [director] James Gunn saying, ‘Is it too much? Am I over the top? Pull me back whenever you’re ready!’ And he was like, ‘More, more!’ He’s a true villain!
When Marvel announced that Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be one of their next cinematic endeavors, it made many of us scratch our heads. It’s a long running title, one that has gone through a number of incarnations, but it’s never been a huge blockbuster hit. Pace actually thinks this relative obscurity is to the film’s advantage, saying:
I remember being interested in comics and I really liked Silver Surfer. Guardians of the Galaxy is a bit deeper into the Marvel Universe, which I think is to its advantage. Iron Man was something that people were not super-familiar with when that movie first came out. I think people are certainly going to like this film and I certainly hope they do. It’s fun!
While there may not be any huge stars, or instant name recognition, Guardians does have a lot going for it. The Marvel marketing machine has proven itself, and at this point the studio can put their name on just about anything they please and people will go see it. It doesn’t hurt that the movie apparently will tie in with one of the biggest films of all time, The Avengers. That doesn’t hurt. And the story is crazy enough that you can’t help but want to see what the hell is going on. The plot follows a rag tag group of space outlaws as the rumble around the deepest reaches of the galaxy, becoming reluctant heroes in the process.
Guardians of the Galaxy stars Pace, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Benicio Del Toro, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, Djimon Hounsou, Dave Bautista, and Glenn Close.
