Star-Lord Narrowed Down To Jim Sturgess and Zachary Levi In Guardians of the Galaxy
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It’s a slow road to production but casting for Guardians of the Galaxy is just hitting its stride. Last month, the shortlist for casting the character Peter Quill/Star-Lord revealed Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Jim Sturgess, Lee Pace, and Eddie Redmayne were up for the role. Now it seems like Marvel has whittled down their selections to Jim Sturgess and a surprise entry not on the shortlist, actor Zachary Levi.
It’s interesting Zachary Levi surfaced as a contender to play the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy because he was once up for the role of Fandral in the movie Thor in 2011. His commitments to his TV series Chuck on NBC proved to be problematic for Levi and Marvel because he was replaced by actor Joshua Dallas. Now that Thor: The Dark World has shown a scheduling conflict for Dallas, Levi was cast to play Fandral in the sequel film. If Levi gets the role of Star-Lord, he would play two different characters in the Marvel universe.
Zachary Levi played the titular character on the TV series Chuck on NBC for 5 years. His claim to the big screen was in 2010 when he voiced the rogue Flynn Rider in Disney’s Tangled. A few months ago, Jim Strugess most recently appeared in multiple roles in the Wachowski’s and Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas. Strugess also played the lead in films such as 21, Across the Universe, One Day, and The Way Back.
Star-Lord is the half-human/half-alien NASA astronaut who becomes the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a team of intergalactic protectors including the Marvel characters Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, and Gamora. These roles have not been cast but James Gunn will serve as the film’s writer and director.
Guardians of the Galaxy will hit theaters everywhere on August 1, 2014.
