After countless shortlist stories and rumors concerning who would play Star-Lord in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the search for the lead role is finally over, and fittingly the actor is someone who never appeared on any of the aforementioned lists. Deadline reports that Chris Pratt has been tapped to play Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, a character who was born of a human mother and alien father, and is a master strategist and combat expert who wears an ability-enhancing suit and pilots a psychically-linked ship. As Guardians features a cast of strange and cosmic characters, Quill was an important role to fill because he will likely act as the audience’s introduction to the vast, unfamiliar Guardians world. Hit the jump for more.
There were plenty of actors rumored for the role that made a lot of sense (John Krasinski, Zachary Levi, etc.), and Deadline notes that Marvel made test deals with Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Lee Pace, and Eddie Redmayne, but Chris Pratt actually seems like a perfect fit. His comic timing is excellent as evidenced by his work on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, and he’s shown his talent on the dramatic side with Moneyball and 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty, for which he also proved that he can beef up for a role if need-be.
Looking back on the previous shortlists and taking Pratt into consideration, it’s clear that writer/director James Gunn is planning on injecting a good amount of humor into Guardians of the Galaxy. A rumor surfaced recently that Marvel was looking at possibly tapping Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler to do voice work in the film (one of the guardians is a talking raccoon), so I’m interested to see the tone that Gunn settles on for the finished film.
With the role of Star-Lord secure, Gunn and Marvel now look to filling out the rest of the cast, which includes the powerful Drax the Destroyer, a giant tree named Groot, the aforementioned Rocket Raccoon, and the female lead Gamora. The story is also rumored to involve the villain Thanos. Expect to hear more soon as production gears up to begin later this year. Guardians of the Galaxy will be released in 3D on August 1, 2014. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rausch:
It's a hard story to tell without the Surfer in it. I don't remember if the FF movie character rights are impossible to get for supporting characters or cameo's...
Yup. What was done with the SS, who should have been HUGE now that they are going cosmic, is Marvel's biggest blunder so far. Hopefully they can get it straightened out, but when?
IG is gonna happen. There is no way around it now. It may be 2018, but it's gonna happen. [Reply]
Originally Posted by beach tribe:
Yup. What was done with the SS, who should have been HUGE now that they are going cosmic, is Marvel's biggest blunder so far. Hopefully they can get it straightened out, but when?
IG is gonna happen. There is no way around it now. It may be 2018, but it's gonna happen.
Maybe they'll just reboot the Surfer with some after credit scene in the Guardians movie, showing him and Galactus ala Thanos in the Avengers. [Reply]
I'm pretty sure Fox still has the Silver Surfer. There was a rumor they were trying to get Surfer and Galactus back in exchange for letting Fox keep Daredevil, but it didn't go through (consequently Marvel has Daredevil back now). [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jamie:
I'm pretty sure Fox still has the Silver Surfer. There was a rumor they were trying to get Surfer and Galactus back in exchange for letting Fox keep Daredevil, but it didn't go through (consequently Marvel has Daredevil back now).
They should lose the rights to the Surfer on principle alone. It's obvious they have no idea who the character is or what to do with him. That goes for Galactus, as well. Assholes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jamie:
I'm pretty sure Fox still has the Silver Surfer. There was a rumor they were trying to get Surfer and Galactus back in exchange for letting Fox keep Daredevil, but it didn't go through (consequently Marvel has Daredevil back now).
Maybe Disney/Marvel will grow some balls and use the Frank Miller continuity. [Reply]
James Gunn's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" promises to be one of the strangest of the Marvel movies so far, and that excites me.
Drew Pearce, who collaborated with Shane Black on the "Iron Man 3" script, was almost hired to work on the final polish for this film, but it looks like Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely will be doing the final polish on the script that Nicole Perlman and Chris McCoy wrote instead.
Quick side note… is Perlman the first female writer on a Marvel movie?
In a lot of ways, Marvel is treating "Guardians" as the beachhead for a new chapter of the universe, and they're seeding the film with archetypes that have worked well for them. Chris Pratt is onboard as Star-Lord, who is also known as Peter Quill, and they're looking to him to be the Robert Downey Jr. of this franchise. Fast, funny, able to play emotional while still getting big laughs.
Everyone in this film has a connection of some sort to Thanos, which is by design. Zoe Saldana (who apparently is not fully committed to the film yet) plays Gamora, whose entire race was wiped out by Thanos when she was just an infant. Thanos actually raised her, planning to make her a weapon when she got old enough, and she learned of his plans, leading her to run away. She has superhuman strength and speed, and she's been trained to be a master of all fighting arts, especially involving blades, something Thanos hoped to use for himself.
Drax, who will be played by Dave Batista in the film, actually started life as a saxophone player named Art. I'll give you a moment to bask in the possibility that we're going to see a flashback to Dave Batista playing sax. He was killed by Thanos in the Mojave Desert, where his "astral form" was later found by Kronos, who was trying to stop Thanos. He used this astral form to create a superhuman warrior named Drax, who can fly and who is practically invulnerable. He can fire cosmic blasts as well.
When we meet Rocket Raccoon in the film, he and his partner Wal Russ (a talking walrus) are guards at The Keystone Quadrant, an intergalactic asylum for the criminally insane. Again, I'll give you a moment. Soak that one in.
Reading this so far, you might suspect that Thanos is the main bad guy in the film, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Yondu, played by Michael Rooker, is this film's bad guy, a space pirate of sorts, and at least at the start of the film, Lee Pace will also be playing a villain who will eventually switch sides so he can be set up for his own spin-off film as… someone? Could he be Nova? Adam Warlock? Mar-Vell, which would allow Marvel to then introduce Ms. Marvel to their cinematic staple?
By far, though, the biggest news that's brewing about "Guardians" right now involves a character named Rhomann Dey. They've made an offer to John C. Reilly to play the part, and if he comes aboard, it's a big commitment. Basically, he's been designed as the Agent Coulson of the "Guardians" movies. He's the human agent who serves as a go-between, keeping the Guardians in line and reporting to SHIELD about their activities.
What's that you say? Rhomann Dey was the leader of the Nova Corps in the comics and not a human being on Earth? And he basically became the Abin Sur of the Marvel Universe when he picked Richard Rider to give his Nova powers to?
Hmmmmm. Very, very interesting.
There's a hint that we'll see some other familiar faces. Groot, for example, originally comes to Earth looking to experiment on humans, but Nick Fury talks him out of his and convinces him to help us instead. But Dey is going to be the primary face of normal humanity for the "Guardians" films, and Reilly would be an intriguing addition to the Marvel Universe. He's got the exact right demeanor for a movie featuring talking trees, weapon-bearing raccoons and walruses, and lots of drop-ins from outer space. He'll have a peer, someone who is their liaison for the Guardians, and Marvel is looking at names as disparate as Hugh Laurie, Alan Rickman, and Ken Watanabe for that part.
What do you think? Sounds like "Guardians" is shaping up as a big, sprawling, vibrant new corner of one of the biggest cinematic universes around, and I'm crossing my fingers that Reilly makes his deal. [Reply]
My thoughts on this one reflect my pre-production thoughts on Green Lantern: comic fanboys will eat it up but it'll be too far out there for regular joe moviegoer. It's ballsy, though. [Reply]
Yeah, I remember that ep from earlier in the year.
I downloaded the new pilot on itunes but never watched it. The general reaction seems to be it's more kid oriented than the previous series. Which is fine, that's the network's target demo. I don't know if I'll watch or not. [Reply]
Bad year for young adult cartoons, everything's being targetted for young kids now. After Young Justice got canned, I tried to watch the new Teen Titans one, but it's just awful. Tron Uprising bombed, YJ got cancelled, Clone Wars got cancelled. :-) [Reply]
