'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' cast and James Gunn have a blast with fans at #QuarantineWatchParty
Spoilers for 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'
Social distancing has been bringing a lot of creators and performers closer to their fans through online interactions on social media. James Gunn and some of the cast of 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' including Sean Gunn, Chris Pratt and Pom Klementieff invited all of Twitter to a #QuarantineWatchParty of the movie. We take a look at some of the highlights of the rewatch, from commentary on some of the cast's favorite scenes to behind-the-scenes moments and the inspirations behind the writing.
"Coming off of the success of Vol 1 I think a lot of us were battling with our egos in one way or another — so all of Vol 2 is autobiographical in that way," wrote James, talking about the inspiration behind the themes of the second movie.
For Pratt, the movie was a chance for him to finally get his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, to watch the film with him. He wrote, "Katherine has never seen this movie. So I will giving updates on her reactions as well." According to him, she was "FURIOUS over the treatment of baby groot," though Steve Agee insists that it was "not my fault. It was in the script bro."
James revealed that the Guardians were originally meant to have a much smaller role in the big 'Infinity War' crossover, writing, "Originally they were solely going to cameo in 'Avengers 3' but by the time I was writing the screenplay for Vol 2 it became something more." He also talks about how the big reveal that Ego (Kurt Russell) was responsible for killing Star Lord's (Chris Pratt) mother with a tumor was planned from the first movie. "If you remember at the beginning of Vol 1, Meredith tells Peter that his father is an angel of light."
Russell, who played Star Lord's father Ego, had some memorable experiences with Pratt. "Playing catch with Kurt, who was a minor league baseball player, was an incredible experience. We used a real LED ball. Great memory," wrote Pratt. "Kurt Russell kept calling @prattprattpratt 'Star Wars' instead of Star Lord in this scene. He couldn’t get it out of his head!" wrote James. Not ALL scenes with Ego went as smoothly, however, as Pratt later reveals, "I remember getting knocked out cold in this upcoming ego fight scene. 15 foot fall landed on my face."
The cast were all united in praising Klementieff's performance as Mantis in the scene where she finds out about Drax's (Dave Bautista) daughter. "Those immediate tears of
@PomKlementieff are real. My girlfriend is crying next to me watching it," wrote James. It was especially challenging for Klemetieff herself, who wrote, "The emotional scene between Drax and Mantis because it was the first day of shoot so... kind of a lot of pressure!"
Another scene that the cast agreed as one of their favorites was the tape scene towards the end of the film. "Doing the 'do you have any tape' bit with @prattprattpratt, with lines served by @JamesGunn, is one of the most fun times I’ve ever had doing a scene," wrote Sean, who did the motion capture for Rocket Racoon's scenes in addition to his role as Kraglin. "Haha! I was hung by a harness floating around. You were so funny," replied Pratt, with Gunn adding, "Some of those tape lines we made up on set. I remember @prattprattpratt making up Drax talking about Scotch tape and then me having him lie about having asked Nebula. Fun day."
Sean also shared one of the film's most exhausting scenes to shoot. "This scene was easily the most tedious for me to shoot. We had to do a different setup for each Groot appearance AND I had to change back and forth between Kraglin and Rocket. And of course spending the day with Rooker is always tedious," he teased.
James also revealed a ton of Easter Eggs, both personal and otherwise. "The little pink girl is my niece Grace," he said, of an early scene. "There are TONS of Easter egg skulls in that pile of Ego’s murdered children," he later wrote.
The cast revealed that Michael Rooker, who plays Yondu, had a habit of falling asleep on set a lot. "Fun fact: @prattprattpratt’s lovely monologue was interrupted more than once by Rooker snoring. He was sound asleep while we filmed." Sean wrote, with Steve Agee sharing a picture one such moment.
Both James and Pratt revealed the personal connection they had to this movie. "I processed a lot of my own real life emotions around the passing of my father while filming this movie. It came at the exact right time for me," wrote Pratt. "My Dad passed away a few months ago. I was able to dedicate the two Guardians movies to my Mom & him at the premiere of this movie. This is a good time to remind everyone this movie is dedicated to him," said James.
The rewatch has renewed the cast's interest in getting to 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,' though it is going to be a long while before that project begins production. James and the cast ended the #QuarantineWatchParty with thanking the fans for joining them all for the rewatch.
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' is available to stream on Disney+.