Kurt Russell Plays An Ancient, Unknown In ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2’
Actor Kurt Russell has got himself a h-u-g-e role in next year’s release of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, as announced at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, and James Gunn cannot wait for people to see him playing the character they created, Ego the living planet.
Director of the sequel, James Gunn, demonstrates no uncertain joy over the matter on his Facebook page, in writing about this Marvel character which fans maybe know as Ego the Living Planet. Gunn and Russell worked together to capture and bring into cinema-reality what they imagined as something “real, and grounded, and emotionally centered.”
“I can’t wait for you guys to see Kurt Russell bring this character to life onscreen. It has been a rapturous experience creating Ego with him. We have both pushed ourselves as far as we can go in making him real, and grounded, and emotionally centered.”
And Russell cares about his acting. He has been quoted before, long before taking on this character from the world of the Guardians sequel, in an interview on the Dougie Thompson website.
“It’s fun making a movie but I’m lucky that it’s not as much fun as my life. It hurts me that people don’t think I care as much about acting as Al Pacino does but people will tell you no one works harder than me on a set. I’m a movie guy. I’m a worker. My one responsibility is to give an audience a good show.”
The actor also reveals that in years previous to the interview, he maybe didn’t think his life was very “interesting.”
“Guys like Eastwood, Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis are much more interesting fare than me.”
The Guardians sequel has been described as a thing “most feverishly anticipated,” by writer Clarisse Loughrey over on her post at the Independent. Loughrey also notes it was smart for the Comic-Con panel to reveal to fans the identity of Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) father. In the comics, Ego takes the form of a planet, according to Loughrey, but in this movie sequel, he will take human form.
Loughrey points out the problem when pushing a comic like Guardians into the cinema. Our “fan-maginations” may be disappointed when the movie rendition doesn’t match up with what we expected.
Kurt Russell seems to have come through for his director, though, based on Gunn’s excited tone at Comic-Con this year and the Facebook page.
The Guardians sequel is expected “to deal with some parental issues, as indicated by the movie’s synopsis,” according to writer Dave Trumbore over at Collider online. Trumbore also states that Russell is “confirmed as Peter Quill’s father,” and fans will be pondering such questions until they finally see the actual movie when it is released, per Gunn, on May 5, 2017.
But Gunn had more thoughts to reveal from the first Guardians movie as well.
“Rocket was an animal experimented upon, torn apart and put back together, without compassion. He was the only being of his type, had never known any hint of kindness, and was utterly and completely alone until he met his fellow Guardians. And, one of them in particular – Groot – thought it was worth sacrificing his life for his sake.”
Gunn recounts this as being a melancholic but “beautiful undercurrent” which helped to ground the character for him.
“He had far more in common with Frankenstein’s monster than he did Bugs Bunny. And I related to him, greatly, and I hoped other folks who felt like outsiders would as well.”
“But I asked myself, if a planet was alive, how could that be? And how could it father a child? The answers to those questions took me to a far deeper place that I expected. I don’t want to give away too many answers at this time. But what Nova Prime said about Peter’s father at the end of Vol. 1 is certainly true – he is something ancient and unknown.”
[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Images]
