Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cast talks about the emotional film and their journeys during their 2023 New York Comic Con panel.
At the 2023 New York Comic Con Michael Rooker, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillian, Chukwudi Iwuji, and Sean Gunn sat down and talked about some of their experiences together as a cast and look back on some funny moments.
The cast was first asked about who was most likely to ruin a take on set by cracking up, Michael Rooker quickly screamed “that’s so… that’s a dumb question!”. Pom Klementieff added, “No no, I remember Michael falling asleep”. Michael snapped back with, “well that wasn’t ruining the take”… and Pom later said that his snoring was so loud that they had to redo the entire scene.
When talking more about their time on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Karen Gillian mentioned how long the makeup process took for Nebula, saying that it was about 4 hours to put on every morning. She also revealed that she would watch reality tv every morning so the gig wasn’t too bad.
Michael Rooker mentioned that in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 his makeup took 2 hours and wardrobe took about 30 minutes. Pom Klementieff said that her makeup also took about 2 hours and 30 minutes, describing her makeup by saying, “looks like a pancake with long nipples on it”. She revealed that though there is a small part of the antenna that is real, most of it is computer generated. She also revealed that she wears contacts for closeup shots but when they are further away they are computer generated because they are uncomfortable.
They teased but later praised Sean Gunn because all he had to wear was a tracksuit to play Rocket Raccoon. He mentioned that for the regular Rocket in all of the Guardians movies he did ‘motion reference’ whereas in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, when doing motion work for Baby Rocket, he was doing motion capture.
He said that when doing reference he was more there to be a ‘thing’ for the actors to act off of. Later Chukwudi Iwuji went back to praise Sean Gunn’s work as Rocket saying that even though Sean’s face isn’t 1 for 1 what we see on Rocket’s face, every performance around Rocket only works because Sean delivers a good performance across from the actors.
Karen Gillian also talked a little about how her performance for Nebula came to be. She was asked about if she ‘prepared to play an alien’ and her answer was no. She added that though she added different mannerisms to Nebula since she wasn’t human, there was not a core change to how the emotional aspects of the character worked.
She talked about how there needed to be a level of human to every character because the audience is human. She also added that James Gunn was helpful in creating the voice of Nebula, giving her a note to, “do more Maralyn Monroe mixed with Clint Eastwood”… and that is the voice we hear on screen.
On a more serious note, Chukwudi Iwuji spoke about his experience in joining the rest of these actors and actresses on Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and he said that he originally watched Guardians of the Galaxy like the rest of us when it was in theaters.
“They broke my heart, they made me cry, made me laugh, they were incredible” – Chukwudi Iwuji
He went on to say that there is no “avenue” to get into Marvel. He said that it’s impossible to just ask your agent to be in a Marvel movie, it happens through other situations. Chukwudi revealed that James Gunn approached him about playing the High Evolutionary while they were on set for Peacemaker Season 1.
Chukwudi said that on the day of filming the dance sequence, Gunn asked him to play the High Evolutionary. Chukwudi said “a day of dancing is already a good day, but he made it even better”. He said his career can be split into two pieces, his work before James Gunn and his work after.
When speaking on their cast-mates, Sean Gunn revealed that when James Gunn approached the cast about Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, he praised how Chukwudi was as a person and though of course he praised his acting ability, he kept pushing for how naturally caring and approachable Chukwudi was.
When giving advice to fans about being a creative, Chukwudi again mentioned his relationship with the rest of the cast and in this talked about ego. He said that though he was working with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood on Guardians of the Galaxy 3, there was no one with an ego and everyone was very respectful of one another.
“There was no ego beyond the ego that everyone wanted to make the greatest thing” – Chukwudi Iwuji
Chukwudi Iwuji was constantly praising the cast and crew but he also mentioned how James Gunn specifically builds his sets around good people. Chukwudi said that from the actors to grips to lighting – everyone on set felt like part of the same team and as Gunn’s films get bigger and bigger the amount of amazing people on set also increases.
NEXT: Yes, That Was Phyla-Vell In The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Mid Credit Scene
Aryan is an aspiring content creator and journalist who loves all genres of movies. He is passionate about discussing and having conversations about anything and everything pop culture related.