Somehow, 2014 became the year when Hollywood was taken over by a goofy comic book movie starring a tree, a talking raccoon, and that one guy from Parks & Rec.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the most successful movie of the year, and has now outgrossed Iron Man and Man of Steel at the domestic box office. After defeating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with no other blockbuster contenders on the horizon until the holiday season, it’s no wonder Marvel Studios is still promoting it six weeks after its release.
Most movie publicity junkets end a few weeks after the film’s release, allowing the cast to breathe a sigh of relief because they can stop dieting and answering banal questions on talk shows.
Guardians of the Galaxy, however, is still in full-blown promotion mode a month and a half later. Between the director, cast, and crew, they’ve now revealed enough behind-the-scenes information to fill up an entire DVD of special features.
Director James Gunn is obviously very excited that everyone loves his film so much, and has been using Facebook and Instagram to share some things that didn’t make it into the final cut. For example, Stan Lee’s original idea for a cameo, which involved him flipping the bird to the camera while locked up in one of The Collector’s containment units.
Then there’s this female “pit boss” character that Gunn posted on Instagram, who would surely have been a fan favorite if her scene hadn’t been deleted.
Marvel concept artist Andy Park tweeted some of the early design sketches for GotG characters, such as this image of what Jason Momoa would have looked like as Drax. Momoa turned down the role on the grounds that he’d already played several similar sci-fi/fantasy action characters. It’s interesting to see how Drax’s look changed after professional wrestler Dave Bautista was cast in the role instead.
His reflexes are too fast! An early concept painting I did of #Drax for @Guardians #GuardiansOfTheGalaxy #Marvel pic.twitter.com/XsVkEV0ywI
— Andy Park (@andyparkart) September 2, 2014
Most of the main cast have also shared some kind of glimpse at the inner workings of GotG, from Vin Diesel wearing stilts while recording “I am Groot” in five different languages, to Karen Gillan having her head shaved to play Nebula.
Chris Pratt’s contribution was a tour of the Milano, Peter Quill’s spaceship. Interestingly, it looks like almost all of ship’s interior was real rather than CGI, adding to the film’s Star Wars-esque retro feel.
Finally, James Gunn has already started talking about the sequel, with the most exciting news being that he intends to include more female characters next time. Until then, it looks like the rest of the Guardians cast and crew is hell bent on releasing enough behind-the-scenes content for a feature-length documentary.
Photo via Marvel