“There are decisions that change your life. There are brothers that never leave your side.”
Peter Berg reunites with Taylor Kitsch (Battleship, Friday Night Lights) for the gritty action thriller Lone Survivor based on a true story and arriving in theaters in limited release on December 27, 2013 followed by an expansion everywhere on January 10, 2014. The film tracks the story of four Navy SEALS on “an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative who are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan.”
The cast also includes Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana and Alexander Ludwig. Universal Pictures’ Lone Survivor is based on the bestselling book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell and was adapted for the screen by Berg.
In this new behind-the-scenes video, Closed Circuit star Eric Bana says this movie reminds him of “some of the great thrillers from the ’70s” and that it doesn’t hold back. Directed by John Crowley (Boy A) from a screenplay by Steve Knight, Closed Circuit features Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Riz Ahmed, Anne-Marie Duff, Kenneth Cranham, Denis Moschitto, Julia Stiles, and Jim Broadbent in an international thriller arriving in theaters on August 28, 2013.
The Plot:
One morning, a busy London market is decimated by an explosion. In the manhunt that follows, only one member of the suspected terrorist cell survives: Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto), who is arrested and jailed. Preparations begin for what promises to be the trial of the century.
But there’s a hitch: the government will use classified evidence to prosecute Erdogan, evidence so secret that neither he nor his lawyers can be allowed to see it. Hence the need for the Attorney General (Jim Broadbent) to appoint a Special Advocate, an additional government-approved defense lawyer (Claudia Simmons-Howe, played by Golden Globe Award nominee Rebecca Hall), one who has clearance to see classified evidence and who can argue for its full disclosure when the trial moves to “closed” session. The rules for the Special Advocate are clear: once the secret evidence is shared with her, Claudia will not be allowed to communicate even with the defendant or with other members of the defense team.
But just as the case is on the eve of going to trial, Erdogan’s lawyer dies suddenly, and a new defense attorney, Martin Rose (Eric Bana), quickly steps in. Martin is tenacious, driven, brilliant – and an ex-lover of Claudia’s. The two lawyers make an uncomfortable pact to keep their former affair hidden. But as Martin begins to piece the case together, the outlines of a sinister conspiracy emerge, one that will draw him and Claudia dangerously close again.
“The enemy may have a missile, but we have Machete.”
Charlie Sheen (going by Carlos Estevez), Mel Gibson, Amber Heard, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Michelle Rodriguez, Demain Bichir, and Lady Gaga either team up with or try to take down Danny Trejo in this new trailer for Robert Rodriguez’ Machete Kills. Arriving in theaters on October 11, 2013, the cast also includes Antonio Banderas, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding, Jr., William Sadler, and Marko Zaror.
The Plot:
In Machete Kills, Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent MACHETE, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man – he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.
The premiere episode of season six of Sons of Anarchy marks, unfortunately, the beginning of the next-to-last season of FX’s critically acclaimed series. Creator Kurt Sutter is only planning a seven season run, and at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con we asked him if anyone is safe from getting killed off before the show airs its final episode. Laughing, Sutter replied, “I’m safe. I think that’s all that matters. You know, it’s a dangerous life. People die.”
Sutter was also asked if he knows – or has always known – the ultimate outcome for each of the Sons of Anarchy characters. “I don’t necessarily for each of the characters. I think I kind of know in terms of my trilogy, in terms of Jax, Clay, and Gemma – and Tara as well,” offered Sutter. “I have a sense of how the other characters evolve. But what I’ve learned each season is that I come to each season with a little bit looser grip of what I want it be. It ends up being a better season if I let it have a life of its own. So I do know where I want to end, I just don’t know how we’re going to get there or really what that path is like.”
Sons of Anarchy‘s creator also revealed the addition of some interesting new players to the mix this season. “We have CCH Pounder coming on playing a character who plays a much more… We had Ray McKinnon play the Federal DA a couple of seasons ago, and she’s just local DA so the energy’s a little bit different. It’s a little more ‘small town’. She sort of plays, I don’t know if I’d say…she’s not a direct antagonist, but she complicates the big picture for them,” said Kutter. “We have Kim Dickens on this season playing a madam and that will be part of Jax and Nero continuing trying to expand their legitimate business. So, that’s sort of a fun storyline we get to play out.”
Sutter also discussed returning guest stars and what fans can expect from this next season debuting on September 10, 2013:
“I’ve got two guns. One for each of you.” I’d hope many of you spot that quote from Tombstone. It’s one of Val Kilmer’s most fun lines, in a career of fun lines (the best being a description of a reoccurring dream in Real Genius). Why am I reminiscing about Val Kilmer when he has nothing to do with the new Denzel Washington / Marky Mark buddy picture? It’s as simple as the title being 2 Guns and my love of being glib.
The movie sees Washington and Wahlberg playing undercover agents for the DEA and US Navy Intelligence (respectively), thinking they’re partnered up with just another criminal and hoping to take down a Mexican drug kingpin. But when they unknowingly tap into a C.I.A. money stash, the end result is the pair being on the run from all three agencies. Sounds simple enough, right? It would be if it wasn’t painfully obvious the source material needs to be adapted better.
Steven Grant’s 2 Guns graphic novel, from what I can tell, seems to be brought over into the cinematic world more or less as it was (aside from changing the race of Denzel’s character). That may work for a comic book, but when I’m watching a movie, I like to have the twists and double crosses make a modicum of sense. I’m all for being surprised because a plot element was cleverly written, but here, items come out of left field simply by happening; there’s no logical way any of it could be foreseen, and it’s like there are whole scenes missing that would bridge points A and B.
For their part, Washington and Wahlberg share a playful chemistry. The best scenes in the movie see the two verbally sparring and trying to establish dominance over one another. To that end, some fun actors are thrown into the mix: Edward James Olmos, Bill Paxton, and James Marsden. Sadly, they’re underutilized and fall into the same trap the plot does, being used haphazardly and without any logical sense.
Then there’s the female lead, Paula Patton. Yes, she’s beautiful. Yes, she’s capable of doing action films (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol). But as much as I don’t want to complain about this, why is she topless here? While my eyes (and elsewhere) are happy enough, it’s completely gratuitous and simply further degraded the reason for her to be in the film. Her character, like everyone not played by the two male leads, has extremely little character development; and the attempts to do so tend to do little more than slow down the pacing.
Getting down to it, there are some fun moments in 2 Guns but director Baltasar Kormákur (whose last movie with Wahlberg, Contraband, was appropriately released in the cinematic wasteland of January) doesn’t seem to be the person who could best translate the material from page to screen and either the screenwriter needed to adapt the graphic novel more significantly or the producers needed to find a different director. This is a stock movie that doesn’t seem to understand that fact and the resultant leaps in plot progression and logic turn what could be a fun buddy picture into a ho-hum head-scratcher.
GRADE: C-
2 Guns opens in theaters on August 2, 2013 and is rated R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity.
Robin Thicke teams up with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots to deliver “Blurred Lines” backed by classroom instruments (including a banana-rattle thing). Better than the actual “Blurred Lines” music video, this new installment of Jimmy Fallon’s Music Room is worth watching once…twice…maybe even three times.
What do you think? The new U.S. poster for Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World has arrived featuring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman looking all serious and sexy while surrounded by the film’s supporting players. Coming to theaters on November 8, 2013, the Thor sequel was directed by Alan Taylor and also features Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins.
The Plot:
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness.
Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Kristen Hager joined her Being Human co-stars at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con to talk about coming off a strong season of the Syfy show and what fans can expect from season four of the popular series.
Kristen Hager Being Human Interview
At this point you must feel like you’re part of their family now.
Kristen Hager: “I do! Yeah, it’s so great that you’re saying that we’re family because I was just saying over there how it couldn’t be a better group of actors to work with – as you can see. Every day is a party, which not all directors love when they first come on board. But everyone is very professional. As soon as they say, ‘Action,’ we’re very much prepared. They feel like my family members at this point, and I will be devastated when the show ends because I won’t be able to see them every day for five months of the year.”
Is it true that you get feedback on Twitter whenever your character says something unpleasant about Aidan? How is the fan feedback, in general?
Kristen Hager: “It’s been great. I was just saying that being part of a show on the Syfy network is fantastic because the fans are so dedicated and loyal, and as I was just saying over there, that’s why we do this job. At the end of the day, we’re here to entertain. That’s the only reason we’re doing this, and we’re so fortunate to be able to do this because of the fans who watch the show. I love that Twitter exists and that we can have this direct conversation with our fans, answer questions and let them know that we appreciate them, that we’re paying attention, and that we’re there. We’re human beings just like they are.”
The whole cast has been doing a lot of live tweeting during shows.
Kristen Hager: “Yeah, we have. We were supposed to only do it for the first couple, but then it was just so much fun that every week we would end up live tweeting.”
There weren’t a lot of sweet moments on the show last year, but the wedding was sweet. What was it like from your end?
Kristen Hager: “First of all, I was so happy when I read the outline that Josh and Nora were finally going to be married. I love them together. Outside of myself, as a fan of the show, I love Josh and Nora. They’re a great team. So, I was really excited to shoot that scene, and as it always happens, we have so much to do in a day.
Television moves very quickly. Most people don’t realize that sometimes we only have an hour to do a very important scene, and that’s what happened with the wedding. We literally had…it was the end of the night. It was a super long day. We had one take. We got one chance to do the wedding scene, and that’s why they did it as a camera that was doing close-ups of us, and then they had a camera moving around us. In a way, it was then very organic and authentic because we just had to go for it and hope for the best. But it was, at the same time, so stressful and I wish that we would have had longer with it. I think that it worked out beautifully as a result.”
Sam Huntington and Kristen Hager in 'Being Human' (Photo by Yanick MacDonald/Syfy)
Now that he’s a wolf again, how is that going to affect their relationship?
Kristen Hager: “Things have never been more challenging. It looks like they just can’t catch a break, these two. I think the writers were literally looking for the most difficult boundary to put between them. They really found it because Josh, yes, he’s a wolf for 29 days of the month, and then on the full moon he transforms back into a human right as I’m about to turn back into a wolf. We have a half an hour together. Our married life together has added up to being about an hour and a half.”
It’s very Ladyhawke.
Kristen Hager: “Very, and we may or may not reference that at some point. Basically, things have never been more difficult, but it’s so cool at the same time. Things are very passionate when we do see each other, obviously. It’s been very difficult for Nora. It’s been three months. It’s very much weighing on her. It’s dire for her. It feels like it’s got to be now or never. They’ve got to figure something out because there’s obviously no end in sight and she doesn’t know how she can go on like this. Things are very conflicted with the series. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.”
How will the relationship be between Nora and Aidan this coming season?
Kristen Hager: “I’m so happy to announce that Aidan and Nora are very close at the start of season four because I kept talking about Twitter… I got so, so many angry Tweets last season. Even when I first read the script was like, ‘Oh, no. I can’t say this! People are going to hate me.’ They’ve been together for three months, trying to figure out how to get Josh back and also trying to find out where Sally is. It’s obviously brought them together in a big way, and they’ve really gotten to know each other. So, things are good for Nora and Aidan.”
Nora and Sally had a really cool relationship, especially toward the end of last season. Are we going to see some more of that this season?
Kristen Hager: “Definitely. Definitely more girl power. Yeah. We have so much fun together as a group, but it’s also so much fun now to get to just do scenes, just me and Sam Witwer, and just me and Meaghan [Rath], because I had more than enough scenes just me and Sammy Huntington. I love working with all of them.”
Meaghan said she’s been working with Amy Aquino again. Are you going to be doing scenes with her?
Kristen Hager: “I sure hope so. I love Amy. I thought she was such a fantastic addition to the cast, and I’m so happy to know that she’s going to be back this season. I really hope so. I feel like at some point I will definitely have to have a run-in with the witch again.”
You started the season digging up graves, and you finished the season with the wedding. Have you had a chance to step back and look at the past season and examine your character’s journey?
Kristen Hager: “Yeah, definitely. I feel like, specifically, season three was a huge journey for Nora. It was also really great to be integrated. In the first two seasons, I did only eight episodes, and then last season I did 11 and this season I’m doing all of them which is great. Just to be included in more of the episodes was so great.”
Is she going to grow into her wolf persona?
Kristen Hager: “Yeah. The wolf is always there. I think in season three she found a really lovely balance because obviously in season two the wolf very much took over. Then in season three, there was this lovely balance of human life and then, still, wolf life. I think that in season four, we will see more of the primal wolf because Nora is very protective. It goes with the wolf territory, a very primal instinct. It’s never going to go away. Especially now, with Josh being transformed into wolf form, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him back. So we’ll definitely see more of Nora-wolf action, for sure.”
How much do you get to contribute to ideas for the script?
Kristen Hager: “I feel like we’re very fortunate on the show and we’re in a very unique position because they really do talk to the actors. I have so many other friends who are actors and that never happens. I feel like it’s very unique to our show, where we’ll get the scripts ahead of time, and then we will actually be able to make notes. Then we have a Skype call with the writers, and we’re able to say, ‘This is great,’ or question this, or just get clarity here, or even say, ‘You know what? Based on something that happened in season three, would I be doing this? Could we possibly do this?’ We do actually get the chance to contribute, which is fantastic. I don’t take it for granted because I feel like this is an exception to this show.”
Have you ever been on a show like that?
Kristen Hager: “No, never. Never ever. Again, like I say, I could only hope that I will be again, but I don’t know if I will be. We have a very special, special writing team.”
What would you like to see happen?
Kristen Hager: “Honestly, I would love to see her and Josh live happily ever after. I love Josh and her together.”
With many wolf babies?
Kristen Hager: “Many wolf babies. As a fan of the show, and stepping outside of it – not being the actress – I love their relationship together. I hope that things work for them. But again, it’s so much fun to get to play the wolf and the darkness that comes with that. I do hope that season four…the show wouldn’t be exciting unless there were those dark moments and the challenging moments, so I hope as well that I get to kick ass a bit.”
Does the makeup transformation drive you nuts?
Kristen Hager: “Yes, but fortunately I haven’t had to do a lot of it. I don’t know if it’s that they don’t want the woman to have horrible prosthetics on her face, but I’ve only had to do the fangs and the claws. The claws still take an hour to put on. For me, it’s that horrible scar on my stomach. That burn scar from my ex-boyfriend. That takes a long time to put on and a long time to take off.”
One of the coolest surprises at the 2013 San Diego Comic was the appearance of the entire main cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past. 20th Century Fox brought Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters, and director Bryan Singer to the Con, pulling off one of the best kept secrets until they appeared at a press conference prior to taking the stage in front of surprised comic book/film fanatics fortunate enough to have a ticket to the sold-out annual event.
Just getting to see the cast seated in a row during the press conference was a treat, but then to hear them joke about the new film and their characters pretty much made the craziness of Comic Con worthwhile this year.
X-Men: Days of Future Past Press Conference
What kind of challenges did you have to go through dealing with this storyline?
Bryan Singer: “Initially, it began with the goal of making a film that would bring this cast together in some way, and time travel or time displacement of some kind would be a tool that we could use to do that. Essentially, the Wolverine of the future, his consciousness is sent to his younger self. It’s nice that Hugh was able to play both parts because the character of Wolverine is ageless, which is really unique. It was great to be able to place him in both of these worlds as a character – and for me to reunite with this original cast.”
How much of a role does Kitty Pryde have in Days of Future Past?
Simon Kinberg: “The biggest difference is that Kitty’s not the one who goes back in time, Kitty’s the one who sends someone back in time. And so as people will see, Wolverine goes back in time.”
What’s it feel like to return to these characters?
Patrick Stewart: “Well, these things have a strange life because you start out and it could just be a movie and that’s it – you tell everyone good-bye. But then it develops its own life force. …The best part about this movie has been for me knowing that at an earlier time in my life I was James McAvoy.”
James McAvoy: “And if I have to grow up into being somebody, how cool is it to grow up being Sir Patrick Stewart, star of stage and screen? It was a big kick getting to work with Patrick. I got to be in the same room as Ian and Hugh and Ellen. It was a real kick. But just dramatically, the whole idea behind First Class kind of rebooting the whole of who we were when we were younger, I never thought for a second I’d actually get to work with Patrick so it was just quite interesting to show the two opposite sides of these people at different times in their lives and their personal adventures.”
Ian McKellen: “I’m looking forward one day to being as dashing and successful as Michael Fassbender. [To Stewart] We can’t really believe our luck, can we, that we’re still allowed out. Also that playing a character over two, three, four films now, it’s fun to go back to the character and realize that he’s still lurking inside you. But these stories need to be told, that’s what I like about the X-Men.”
Halle Berry: “And what’s nice is that we all love the films, but what’s nice for me is that in the first movie we all became such good friends. We really like each and we like being around each other. So to have a chance to do the work that we love and to hang out with the people that we really admire, respect, and like to be around, for me is the joy of coming back to these movies. The beauty is, because we are good friends, we pick up as if we just saw each other yesterday. I was really happy to see everybody.”
Jennifer Lawrence: “We became so close on First Class and after I got the movie I went and watched all of them and I never thought that I’d be able to meet some of the original cast.”
Bryan Singer: “I built the old hallways from the X-Men 1, 2 and 3…it’s the fourth time we’ve built these blue hallways – they are kind of iconic in the X-Men films. It was really fun when they walked on the set because they’d been in an X-Men movie, but not with those hallways or with Hugh as Wolverine. Jen was standing in the hallway and we were looking at one of your costumes and you were like, ‘Can I see Cerebro?’ And I was like, ‘Sure. I’ll show you Cerebro.'”
James McAvoy: “That’s not a euphemism, by the way.”[laughter]
Nicholas Hoult: “When we walked into those old corridors for the first time, I looked over during a take and I saw Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and I started to panic and freak out a little bit. Those were films I grew up watching.”
James McAvoy: “I had a weird experience when I did Narnia. I walked into K&B, the prosthetics company, […]and in that room was like a massive lion and it was Aslan. I was a huge fan of these books growing up and I saw Aslan and went down on my knees, going, ‘My king!’ And I’ve never really had that experience again in my career but weirdly doing my first scenes with you guys – Hugh and Patrick and Ian and all that – it…I wasn’t down on my knees…but it did feel a little bit like I was touching kind of an icon, you know what I mean?”
Will this film be playing with the continuity of the series?
Bryan Singer: “Of the universe as established in the movies? Yes, there will be some of that. Whenever you go back in time, and this is every bit as much a time travel movie as it is an X-Men, there is those risks. So some of that’s going to happen and yet there are some things if you believe in certain physics and you also have a respect for the continuity as we have, then I’m less so trapped in the previous films. Again, I’m not the audience, I’m just the filmmaker. But I do believe in certain continuity but some things will change. It’s the nature of time travel.”
Will there scenes with the younger and older versions of the same characters?
Bryan Singer: “Primarily since Wolverine is the journeyman, his interaction with the younger cast is primary. There is a moment … where these two characters come face to face, the younger self and older self. We’re trying to do it in a unique way. It’s been done before but my first opportunity to make a time travel movie really wanted to do my very best to create a set of rules and respect them, create a continuity within those rules. But there’s a bit of interaction like that.”
What was your first reaction to this project?
Patrick Stewart: “I heard about this movie and I was immediately filled with such sadness because, most of you probably won’t recall but at the end of the third movie, I was vaporized by Jean Grey. [Laughing] And that really hurt, by the way. I hope that never happens to any of you. So my assumption was it’s going to be Ian, Halle, Hugh, and everybody back – but it won’t be me. But something happened which I’m not allowed to talk about. Am I? Oh, you can!”
Bryan Singer: “Characters come back to life in the comics. Whenever I do something, I can’t just do it flippantly. I have to at least believe in the idea, the conceit. In my own mind, I understand how Xavier is alive from X-Men 3. There’s a beat at the end of X-Men 3 after the credits when his consciousness is alive inside a woman in the hospital. Then you take that, mix it with some powerful mutants – mutants can do a lot of cool stuff – and you can imagine anything’s possible.”
Patrick Stewart: “So does that mean Xavier is back?”
Bryan Singer: “For the moment.”
How did you feel about the costumes this time?
Jennifer Lawrence: [Gestures to Berry] “She’s pregnant, I’m naked. Come see the movie.”
Bryan Singer: “This Mystique was less innocent, evolved, getting closer to where Mystique was in X-Men 2.”
Jennifer Lawrence: “When we left the movie she was ‘mutant and proud.’ She was struggling with that problem a lot of normal people struggle with about being insecure about how they look, so she was very covered up in the first movie. But this time she was mutant and proud.”
James McAvoy: “My threads are awesome; lots of flair, chunky shoes, psychedelic shirts, lot of brown jackets going on with very violently covered shirts underneath.”
Hugh Jackman: “In the future, the X-Men suits are unbelievable. First of all, hell of a lot more comfortable to wear than X-Men 1 and 2, but they look really amazing. People in the future wear suits who have never worn suits before. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Ian McKellen: “Do you get to wear the helmet?”
Michael Fassbender: “Yes.”
Ian McKellen: “The best thing about playing the old Magneto this time: no helmet.”
Michael Fassbender: “You don’t like the helmet?”
Ian McKellen: “Oh, no. We’ll talk about our helmets later.”
Disney and Marvel Studios pulled off one of the bigger surprises among the movie studios represented at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con. Scheduled to bring the stars of Captain America: The Winter Soldier to the event along with representatives from Thor: The Dark World, the gathering of fans in Hall H were also treated to a surprise Q&A with the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy. Joining director James Gunn to talk about the 2014 release, which just started shooting, were Chris Pratt (‘Star-Lord / Peter Quill’), Zoe Saldana (‘Gamora’), Benicio del Toro (‘The Collector’), Lee Pace (‘Ronan The Accuser’), Michael Rooker (‘Yondu’), Djimon Hounsou (‘Korath The Pursuer’), and Karen Gillan (‘Nebula’).
Following their appearance in the standing-room-only Hall H, the group took part in a press conference with the media.
Guardians of the Galaxy Press Conference:
James, is there any chance you might make an announcement soon about Rocket Racoon or Groot?
James Gunn: “Pretty soon. Not now-ish. [Laughing] Tomorrow, next week-ish, next month-ish.”
What’s the basic moral premise and conflict of Guardians of the Galaxy?
James Gunn: “Guardians is about a family coming together. It really is about a group of individuals who have acted selfishly – and only as individuals – throughout their life. And they learn something about themselves that makes them heroes.”
Chris, what was the extent of your training to get your body into the physical shape it is now?
Chris Pratt: “Oh, man! It was about six months and a combination of different things, like lifting weights, cardio, and really strict nutrition. It’s some really boring stuff. Basically, I cried 40 pounds off, and the rest was being hungry and running a lot.”
James Gunn: “He’s doing really well, too. His birthday was about three or four weeks ago and I happened to be there and they brought out a tray of vegetables that spelled happy birthday.”
Chris Pratt: “If any of them were sharp, I would have used it to cut my wrists.”
James, your previous films have more of an R-rated tone. Are you keeping more of a darkly comedic tone with this film?
James Gunn: “I don’t think of it as darkly comedic. I do think of it as me, I’ve gotta say that. There’s a lot of James Gunn in this movie, and it’s a strange thing. When I turned in the first draft to Kevin [Feige] and Marvel and Joss [Whedon] and they read the first draft, they were all really happy, which made me happy. That was a really good day. And their biggest note was, ‘More James Gunn,’ which freaked the hell out of me. So, I gave them more James Gunn and that’s what’s in the movie.
I think it’s a really unique movie. But with every movie I do, I’m speaking to a certain part of myself and I’m speaking to a certain audience. With a movie like Super, I’m speaking to a specific person that that movie means a lot to. I really appreciate everybody who loves that movie. When I’m doing a movie like Guardians, it really is for a much broader audience. It’s for everybody. It’s a movie we can go see on a Friday night with everybody else in the city and really enjoy ourselves in a different type of way. And I appreciate both of those types of movies.”
What has your experience been like on set with this big budget?
James Gunn: “That it’s easier. With a movie like Super, there are a lot of people on set who I think I can do their job better than they can. With a movie like this, we worked really hard to find the best, whether it was the best actor for each of these roles, which we worked really hard at, but also the best production designer, the best composer, and the best costume designer. They all make my job a lot easier on this movie than it’s been in movies past.”
As actors, is it intimidating at all to step into these roles that people might not be as familiar with as they are with some of the other characters in the Marvel universe?
Zoe Saldana: “It’s exciting! Of course, you’re nervous, but I would be cautious to use the word intimidating because I don’t want it to be interpreted like I feel inferior. I feel very excited to be joining the Marvel family of superheroes. I do believe that Guardians have bigger powers, in a way. If we were up against Captain America or Thor, we’d totally kick his ass.”
Chris Pratt: “All the Marvel movies thus far have been received so well because they were such famous comic books, but I think they were great stories. Iron Man is Iron Man now because of Iron Man the movie. It was a comic and certainly people knew it, but they love it and they go back to it because it’s great storytelling. It’s the same thing with this. This is a really cool story. Marvel knows what they’re doing and they know how to tell a story and they know how to make this movie. I really don’t feel intimidated.
If you told me, ‘Chris, you have to go adapt Guardians of the Galaxy into a movie on your own,’ I would be super intimidated. But when they’re like, ‘We’re doing it and we’d love you to be a part of it,’ it’s like, ‘Wow, great! I’m along for the ride!'”
Has anybody gotten hurt on the film?
Zoe Saldana: “Well, we still have 85% of the film to shoot, so we could. I think there is going to be a great deal of soreness and muscle cramping and sweating, but it’s going to be great. We’ve all been training for it and rehearsing, and had endless conversations with our director, as well as talking to every department that’s building us together. [Some of us] have so much make-up to do, constantly, with retouching, every single second. There’s a lot of work put into it.
I’m just excited to be doing something different. This is sort of like the anti-hero hero movie. When you meet these characters, they’re thieves, they’re rebels, and they’re assassins, but they’re going to be learning very big lessons. Because it’s a James Gunn interpretation of Guardians, the levity will be very abundant, and that’s what keeps it awesome. My 10-year-old niece just visited the set and when we both walked into one of the sets they had built, we both had the same expression and we were both drooling. It was insane!”
Dave, how strong is Drax The Destroyer and can he beat up Hulk and Thor?
Dave Bautista: “I would have to say yes on that.”
Zoe Saldana: “Have you seen his hands? For the love of god! If it’s raining, I just tell Dave to put his hand over my head.”
Dave Bautista: “This part is, by far, the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life. To be a part of this is really a dream come true. I really come from nothing; I’m a poor kid from the streets. What I’ve been able to achieve has really just been through hard work and not letting anyone tell me that I couldn’t do something. I always try to encourage people to just pursue your dreams.”
Has your previous experience with WWE and the live shows for RAW helped prepare you for doing film roles?
Dave Bautista: “No. Going on auditions, for me, is the worst thing in the world. It’s just terrifying. I perform in front of 100,000 people, but this is so much more intimate. There’s just so much attention right there on you, and it’s absolutely terrifying. This is new to me. I’m still a student at this. I’m not afraid to let people know, ‘This is new to me. I’m still learning.’ I’m not afraid to go up to people and pick their brains and ask for advice. To me, that’s how you get better. That’s how I’ve gotten better at everything I’ve ever done. Don’t be too proud to ask for help.
I’m learning a lot every day on this film from the director and from the crew and even from the producers. That’s what it’s all about for me. To me, that’s how you stay young. If you’re pursuing something that you love and you’re learning something new every day, that’s the key to youth.”
For the actors, what is your favorite weird and wonderful aspect of your character?
Michael Rooker: “There’s a lot of me in Yondu. When I first read the script I noticed right away that there are some aspects of Yondu’s existence within this universe of ours that were very, very close to me. For example, the tough love that I have towards some of the other cast members. I’m very much like that in my life, as well. I hardly ever do make-up in the movies I’ve done, except on James Gunn movies. This one is about two-and-a-half hours. To me, that’s a very interesting aspect. When I get mad, I turn red. When I get embarrassed, I turn red. When I get turned on, I get red. And I want the audience to see that, in the character.
So, if the character is getting mad, getting upset or getting turned on, you’re getting to see that in the facial tones and the skin tones. That’s what I enjoy about acting. It can be very subtle like that. With a lot of make-up on, you can’t see a lot of that, so I prefer to have no make-up at all. But, not in this one. I’m very excited to be involved with this.”
Djimon Hounsou: “I play Korath who is a humanoid. I have a 4-year-old son who loves all the superheroes from Spider-Man to Batman to Iron Man. He’s got all the costumes. And one day he looked at me and said, ‘Papa, I want to be light-skinned so I can be Spider-Man because Spider-Man is light-skinned.’ That was a shock to me. I’m extremely excited to be a part of the Marvel universe so that I can provide a diverse outlook of superheroes or bad guys in those stories. It’s important for us to be part of that, and specifically for me. That was my in ticket to the Marvel world and I’m excited.”
Lee Pace: “I play Ronan The Accuser and it’s a character that’s been around since 1967 when he first walked into Fantastic Four. So, there’s a lot of incredible story that I’ve gotten to research. If you call reading comic books research, I guess I’ve been doing my job. I start work this week filming the character and I’m just really excited to make a villain that is complicated. There’s a core to him where you can find something that you can understand. I don’t know. He’s pretty bad, though. It’s the early days so I’m just putting the first wall up and we’ll start there.”
Dave Bautista: “I play Drax The Destroyer who is also a pretty bad dude. Drax is full of rage and he’s full of honor, and he’s very literal. I think the best thing about Drax is that he’s hysterical without meaning to be. That’s what I love the most about Drax.”
Zoe Saldana: “I play Gamora. The weirdest thing about her is that she turns green when she blushes, she turns green when she’s mad, and she turns green when she’s turned on. And what’s wonderful is that she has grown up in an environment that has misrepresented how she truly feels inside and she’s going to discover that, hopefully.”
Chris Pratt: “For Quill, without blowing too much of his origin or anything like that, there’s a petulance to him. He hasn’t really been held accountable as an adult. He’s been able to be free in space and do whatever he’s wanted to do. That’s really fun because it means that he’s slept with all these super weird aliens. That’s my favorite weird element of the character. It’s just very wonderful.
But, my favorite moment that I’ve had was when I first donned my full wardrobe in the costume department. I put it on, and it was just like, ‘Wow!’ I wore it and I thought that was pretty wonderful. All of a sudden my walk changed a little bit and I had a little extra bob in my head. That was pretty cool.”
Karen Gillan: “I play Nebula and she looks pretty weird. One of the most interesting things about the character, for me, is her very strange and complex relationship to Gamora.”
Benicio del Toro: “I play The Collector and he collects things, like I do. I think it’s pretty cool that he’s got his own personal zoo.”
James Gunn: [Laughing] “We were talking about something about collecting stuff and how you [Del Toro] get excited when you get something new to collect, and then all of a sudden you look at me really serious and you go, ‘You know, I was the first kid in my neighborhood to have an alligator.'”
James, as they expand the Marvel universe, will there be a connection between the Guardians and other Marvel movies?
James Gunn: “Well, we have Thanos. Thanos is the thing that connects us to the Marvel universe, at this point. In the future, we’ll see what happens after that. But right now we’re connected to the rest of the Marvel universe because of three seconds at the end of The Avengers.”
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Guardians of the Galaxy opens in theaters on August 1, 2014.
“There are decisions that change your life. There are brothers that never leave your side.”
