We can’t really confirm what was on James Gunn’s to-do list when he introduced “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but what he easily struck from the pile included making “Footloose” references, turning Chris Pratt into a megastar, and having the world fall in love with a raccoon that sounded like Bradley Cooper. What the now co-head of DC Studios did with this bunch of intergalactic a-holes was remarkable, and even more so considering that he managed to give the Guardians a trilogy that led to some of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Looking back on the team of misfits he helped mold over in the MCU, Gunn explained to GQ that there was one primary focus he had in bringing the Guardians to life, and it was to create his version of a story set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away:
“I loved ‘Star Wars’ so much as a kid, and I started to see where this could be a movie that was not like ‘Star Wars,’ but had the effect on kids that ‘Star Wars’ had on me when I was a kid, when I walked into, you know, the grocery store for the first time, and saw C-3PO on the cover of People magazine, and Chewbacca on the cover of People magazine, I was like, ‘Oh my God. What is this magical movie that I have to see so badly? This is more important to me than anything else in life.’ I thought that I could do that with a raccoon and a tree.”
The journey to get to that point proved to be a tumultuous one, though, as initially Gunn wasn’t even sure he was the right fit for the gig. It was only thanks to a traffic jam and stewing over the idea of one of the Guardians’ mouthiest characters that he eventually warmed to the idea, and made the hero in question the beating heart of the franchise from then on.
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Rocket Raccoon turned James Gunn around to directing Guardians of the Galaxy
Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 surrounded by fire – Marvel Studios
While it seems impossible to imagine anyone else at the helm of any of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies besides James Gunn, there was a time when the director simply wasn’t convinced of the idea. “[T]hey showed me what they were thinking about these for these characters and what they were gonna do, and I was like, ‘eh, it sounds kind of like Bugs Bunny in the middle of the Avengers,’ I wasn’t sure,” recalled Gunn. Questions arose with the director asking, “‘How are you gonna make a talking raccoon, like how’s that gonna work?’ I really walked out of there, not only not thinking I would ever get the gig, but also not really being convinced that I wanted to do it anyway.”
And yet, something began to gnaw at Gunn. What he saw as the toughest challenge in the Guardians’ story could turn out to be its greatest strength. “[I]t just came to me that if it was real, that that raccoon would be the saddest creature in the entire universe, and that he would feel utterly and completely alone, and have a very difficult time in life. That to me was the beginning of ‘Guardians.'”
From there, the story that Gunn intended to be his version of “Star Wars” became something different but equally significant in its own right. Not bad going for a mouthy raccoon and a tree that could only say three words.
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