GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 - Press Junket.
”I knew you were the son of the woman I loved.” This one line ripped my heart apart, the ache, love and acceptance that all children want to hear, young or old, you want to know that your parents loved one another at one time. That you are a product of the love that blossomed. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 was not only hilarious, it holds some of the greatest one liners and the theme of the movie is centered around family. Family doesn't necessarily mean blood, it’s who we let in our lives that become our loved ones. Acceptance, kindness, a bond that is unbreakable and undeniable is what holds us close to the ones we cherish.
Thank you Disney for inviting me to the Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. Press junket. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to hear the cast speak about their experiences. What a wonderful time they all had filming Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. What a moment to hear the cast Chris Pratt (“Peter Quill / Star-Lord”), Kurt Russell (“Ego”), Michael Rooker (“Yondu”), Elizabeth Debicki (“Ayesha”), Director James Gunn, Producer Kevin Feige, Zoe Saldana (“Gamora”), Dave Bautista (“Drax”), Karen Gillan (“Nebula”), Sean Gunn (“Kraglin”), Pom Klementieff (“Mantis”), Sylvester Stallone (“Member of Nova Corps”) and Producer Kevin Feige share so freely their thoughts about the movie and the characters they played in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. Chris Pratt I don’t know if you’re reading this but if you are, YES, Groot did steal the movie. I love that little guy, just wanted to squish him (in a mommy way) and protect him just like you all did.
There are so many highlights I could share, however if I did the article would be 10 pages long! So here are my top three. The first one hit home because I do get star struck and I’ve often wondered when these talented individuals get together do they react, does it phase them at all? Here they are, all in their own rights extremely talented, powerful individuals meeting one another, do they acknowledge the moment? I got my answer, here is Chris Pratt on meeting icon Kurt Russell for the first time.
“You know, there’s this thing that happens like you promised yourself you’re not gonna do this thing that happens every time you meet someone who’s an icon, someone that you’ve known way longer than they’ve ever known you and you’ve seen all their stuff and you have this opportunity from time to time if you’re lucky to work with someone like Kurt Russell. And you promised yourself you’re not gonna do the thing where you geek out, but you do, it’s a little inauthentic if you don’t, because if you just go in there and you be like, oh what is it, Kurt? Hey, nice to meet you. Chris. And I don’t acknowledge the fact that how much I love him and what a fan I am, if you don’t get that out of the way, then it feels a little inauthentic. So I think I did that immediately, and then that takes a minute, it doesn’t really take that long to tell someone that you really love them, you really respect their work, and for them to go, yeah thanks. And then, that’s it. At that point, you move forward and there’s this really cool thing that is probably the one thing I never would’ve imagined looking for when I first moved to Hollywood, but like the greatest, the greatest part of it, the biggest secret is you, is you become somebody’s friend and somebody’s peer rather than a fan. And that’s really nice, and I think Kurt and I have become friends. We connected on a lot of things outside of just the movie. And you know, I have his cell phone number and I’ll give it to each and every one of you. “ Calm down, we did not get his cell number and if we did I would share it with you.
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Chris Pratt on one his favorite scenes, which moved me to my core. To see a strong man, empty, disgusted at the world and really at himself was a pivotal moment for me in the portrayal of Yondu. Yondu who posses such a fearful character is the epitome of innocence lost, tragic really.
Chris Pratt: “It’s so beautiful, because, Yondu is shirtless. He’s essentially naked, and really vulnerable. And you see that he’s just had sex with these crazy robot prostitutes or something from space. And there’s this look on his face, he never says a word, but you feel his pain. You know that he’s hurting inside, you know that he’s lonely and you know that he’s vulnerable, and then immediately you cut to him walking, in, fully clothed with his Ravagers behind him and this sense of power, but because you saw him naked you know what’s going on inside of his mind, and that pathos carries the entire arc for Yondu through the whole movie. It’s beautiful. It’s so good.
And he doesn’t even say a word. So that’s way better than a guy who’s like, I’m gonna take my shirt off and sniff this, put this one on.”
My third was Drax’s laugh, every time he laughed it brought a smile on and I would start giggling. His laugh sounds exactly like my toddlers laugh when he’s done something off the cuff that he knows will push me over the edge, We asked Dave Bautista if his real-life laugh is similar to Drax’s? “No, it’s nothing at all like that, everybody knows, that I’m a very understated person; I’m a little soft-spoken. But James is very big on you know, Drax being just larger than life and projecting, he’s constantly telling me to project. Also my eyes, it really irritates the hell out of James, I get nervous, I have this nervous energy so my eyes wander constantly. And he’ll go, “Stop doing that! Stop doing that! Just pick something and focus on it,” so I’ll just try to stare at something else, start delivering and he’ll say, “Project. Project louder,” that helped me create that character. The laugh came about just by complete accident. It just happened. I was laughing and he said, “Can you do it louder?” and then louder, so I started laughing; the louder I could go, I’d hear him laughing. So he just was doing it to amuse himself and he just wanted, the bigger it got the louder he laughed, so I just kept getting louder,bigger and bigger until I lost my voice...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will take you on an adventure from our world and to a cosmic realm where anything is possible, it’s captivating. The film opens with Kurt Russell, a younger version of himself, courting the great love of his life who is Peter Quill’s mother to the 1972 strains of “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl). The music will get you moving in your seat and I promise you, the moment you leave the cinema you’ll be downloading the soundtrack (featuring everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Cat Stevens). It’s that good! Enjoy and see you at the movies, xo