It's almost time for Marvel's band of planet-hopping misfits to groove their way back into theaters with the release of James Gunn's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2! As a way to mark the occasion and feed the forever-hungry hype machine, Empire has shared three never-before-seen photos taken from the set of the film as a part of their upcoming 8-page feature magazine coverage.
The first image shows Yondu (Michael Rooker) staring intently into the beady eyes of Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), the second features Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket, Drax (David Bautista) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) gazing upward at Star-Lord knows what (Hey-o!), and the third features a rock-solid look at Kurt Russell's Ego the Living Planet in all of his human and bearded glory.
You can take a gander at the photos yourself below, and be sure to click on them to embiggen!
Included in Empire's coverage are comments from both James Gunn and Kurt Russel regarding the famed actors journey to coming aboard the film. In reminiscing about the process, Gunn stated, "I started writing for Kurt as I was finishing the screenplay. I would have been really disappointed if he’d said no." To that, Russell responded by saying, "Fifteen minutes in [in reference to viewing the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY], I said, ‘I think I see why they’re coming to me. The baggage I bring from some of the movies I’ve done is the right kind of baggage to bring into this one. I’ve never played anybody bigger! I’ve never played a character with broader possibilities, I’ll say that.”
Gunn also remarked on the use of Hal Tenny's elaborate fractal art that was used to complete the look of Ego's environment in the comment, “We have over a trillion polygons on Ego’s planet. It’s the biggest visual effect of all time. There’s nothing even close to it. Which is cool." Indeed. I remember back when film's like WATERWORLD and AVATAR were breaking the bank on expensive shoots. I mean, if anyone is going to set a new precedent why not have it be thanks to the DIsney and Marvel monster that's surfaced over the past few years, right?
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 will get your hooked on a feeling in theaters everywhere beginning on May 5, 2017.