The making of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was an emotional process for a number of reasons.
Director James Gunn and the franchise’s cast – including Chris Pratt, Karen GillanSean Gunn, Pom Klementieff and new cast members Will Poulter and Maria Bakalova – took part in the Marvel Studios panel in San Diego Comic Con on Saturday. Then Gunn and some of the performers chatted with The Hollywood Reporter about what fans can expect from the film that showed its first trailer during the panel prior to its scheduled release on May 5, 2023.
“This is a much bigger movie than the other two movies, and it’s a much more emotional movie than the other two movies,” Gunn said. THR. “And it’s a longer movie than the other two movies — it’s bigger in every way.”
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Gunn, who directed the franchise’s first two films, was… fired by Disney in July 2018 about previously surfaced tweets be brought back less than a year later at the helm of the third installment, the last film for this group of Guardians. As the filmmaker explained, he felt right at home to go back to work.
“It was really comfortable, actually… I’m really familiar with the actors, so I know what to do with them. They’ve gotten better at their job so I don’t have to bash them so much,” Gunn said with a laugh. “In many ways it was very easy – it’s very natural for me. I understand this. But I’m also really pushing myself and trying to create something completely different from what came before, but that also honors what came before.”
Gillan, who plays Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shared: THR that the cast first saw the trailer when it was shown at Comic-Con, and many tears were shed upon seeing the footage. “It was definitely emotional making it,” Gillan said of shooting the third film. “Obviously there was so much fun in the movie and seeing fun sequences where the emotion isn’t that heavy, but ohhare there scenes where the emotion is heavier than ever in the guards world. It was hard to get a part of it.”
She continued about the third film: “It definitely feels like the most epic. It’s complex and that’s what the characters have to do with it. It’s very emotional for all of them. And then we also have to deal with the fact that this is the end.” is of some kind of era, and so a lot of emotion.”
As for other highlights of the trailer, Klementieff noted that the character referred to as “Baby Rocket,” aka a younger version of the mercenary voiced by Bradley Cooper, is “so cute.” The actress behind Mantis also teased a scene shot towards the end of production: “There’s a very specific scene in the movie that we shot at the end of the shoot, and it was really hard not to cry.”