Here’s part 2 to the “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” press conference! You’ll understand quickly why this was split into two parts. Read part 1 here.
After they announced part two was starting, in walked Sean Gunn (Kraglin), Sylvester Stallone (Stakar Ogord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Karen Gillan (Nebula) , Pom Klementieff (Mantis), and Kevin Feige (Producer) for a second time. See? Pretty big crowd!
This round got started right away with a question from the moderator – to the newest members of the cast – what scene or person made you decide to join the cast? Stallone was the first to chime in “It was interesting because I love action films, but I haven’t ventured into the genre, so it was quite an experience.” Pom also said that she had an incredible time and “Can’t wait to do it again.”
Soon enough the question turned to the makeup chair – seeing that the actors that played the characters with the most body art was on this panel. Zoe and Karen’s makeup time was four hours, Pom’s was three and half, Dave had it easy with a hour. All either talked their people’s ear off (Zoe) or zoned out (Dave).
One thing that I thoroughly enjoyed about this film was the powerful, strong women. There was a lot of respect in the room when Zoe and Karen went back and forth:
KAREN GILLAN: It’s the greatest. I loved working on all of that stuff with Zoe, mean, it’s the best, we have such a good time.
ZOE SALDANA: We do, because we’re very opposite to our characters and you know, Karen is very feminine and goofy and a little clumsy because these sets are dangerous, let’s be honest.
KAREN GILLAN: But you’re an amazing fighter. Zoe literally teaches me how to fight while we’re doing it. She’ll be like, “Turn your head like that and you strangle someone like that, you’ll going to look cool,” and I’m like, “Yes, thank you,”
Something I didn’t realize before this press conference is Sean Gunn, not only plays Kraglin he also plays the on set Rocket. He crouches down to get Rocket size and says the lines for reference. But one little thing he found a challenge, “But yeah, it’s interesting in this movie because Rocket and Kraglin have a few scenes that they’re in together, so… so doing , you know, like juggling the two things was a very strange and challenging experience for me. But I love it. I love both characters and I, you know, I’m just really grateful to be a part of it.” Apparently he did such a great job as Rocket that Feige mentioned whenever the animators had a hiccup with that Rocket would do in a situation, “James will say, “Go back to the plate,” which means the original portion of photography with Sean, even little mannerisms of his eyes and his mouth.“
The conversation went then to Stallone, and what he thought of this world. “I just always became fascinated with mythology and Joseph Campbell and you know, Man of a Thousand Faces and so on and so forth. So when I started doing Rambo, whatever, there was an evolution that takes place and each generation has to define itself and find its own heroes and find its own mythology and this is the new, this is this generation, and maybe even the next generation’s mythology and when Kevin invited me onboard I said, “This is interesting because I haven’t gone here,”
All the returning cast members talked about how great it was to come back to make the sequel. Sean mention seeing everyone again, and Zoe talked about the makeup process, Dave went a bit further, “it was really a luxury to come back into a reoccurring role, not only where I was comfortable with the character, but I was also like so comfortable with my cast members, because they’re people that I love and care about and I knew they weren’t going to judge me so I didn’t have to feel self-conscious about anything that I did. I mean they just accept me for who I am and they appreciate me and they also are confident that I will deliver for them and so that was my biggest luxury in this.” It really was a giant love-fest.
The last question was about the soundtrack and the score. I found it really interesting – the score is written and done a year before shooting so, James Gunn can play the score in the actor’s earbuds So they can get a sense of the scene and the feeling of it. He will also play some of the songs that are intended for the film and where it goes in the movie.
The press conference was enlightening and so much fun to attend. Please go out and see “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” when is comes out May 5th. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did, then go and get the soundtrack!!
