James Gunn has taken to Twitter to answer some fan questions concerning the upcoming production of Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2, which will be shot in the new Marvel stateside production homestead at Pinewood Atlanta Studios. They also recently shot Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War there, and we expect Avengers: Infinity War will as well.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 29, 2016
The writer-director has revealed he has quietly cast actors in the roles of the film’s villains and Star-Lord’s father. Shocking, since we’ve known trades and blogs to be the ones to first reveal casting announcements. Then again, we’ve seen people like Bryan Singer surprise fans with casting reveals on social media for his last two X-Men outings, rather than the traditional trade route.
It’s possible that Marvel will make a bulk casting announcement just before production begins on the official website, as we’ve seen previously, or Gunn could take to Facebook/Twitter to announce them himself.
Thanks to the trades, we have learned that Old Boy remake actress Pom Klementieff will take the role of Mantis, but this has yet to be officially confirmed by either Marvel or Gunn.
There’s also a report that suggests that Kurt Russell (Big Trouble In Little China, The Hateful Eight, Escape From New York, The Thing) had been eyed to play Peter Quill’s father. Considering we haven’t heard anything concerning the casting, it’s possible Kurt has indeed landed the role.
Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey (True Detective, Interstellar, Dallas Buyer’s Club) had been linked for a villain role, but ultimately passed on it (or did he?).
Al Pacino was quite vocal in the press about his love for the first film, calling it “the most entertaining, inventive, beautiful film.” During an interview with Deadline, he revealed an interest to nabbing a role in the sequel and trying to make it work.
“I recognized the ingenious stuff they were doing; the invention, the attractiveness of the way they were performing it. It had Shakespearian feeling to it at times. I was caught up in the big screen, the great sound…”
“I would do anything that I could understand in terms of how I fit in it. And you know, of course if I could fit in it. Anything’s possible,” he told me. Then he winked, “You know, I did Dick Tracy and I got an Oscar nomination, so come on. I mean, what can I say?”
James Gunn admitted a desire to work with the legendary actor months after he praised the filmmaker and suggested working together.
“@adelutzap1982: Which actor would you like to work with?” Al Pacino.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 1, 2015
It’s possible without Benicio Del Toro returning as The Collector, due to commitments for the production of Star Wars: Episode VIII, they might need more villains in the film. I’d love to see Pacino play someone like Mephisto, a cunning devilish cosmic villain that has ties to Thanos and could end-up becoming an even bigger threat in Avengers: Infinity War.
A recent rumor is suggesting that Ego The Living Planet could be the big bad, but that seems extremely odd to us. The only thing that makes this plausible is that Gunn introduced the Celestials in the first film, and had asked Marvel to get the rights back from Fox to use Silver Surfer and Galactus specifically. This happened during that meeting Marvel and Fox had about renewing the Daredevil rights in exchange for Galactus and Surfer. Having a giant cosmic beings that devours planets could be interesting visually, and Ego could take the place of Galactus if handled properly by Gunn.
It’s possible that Ego could have his own herald, possibly the secondary villain of the film and it might not even be a willing participant, not unlike Silver Surfer’s relationship to Galactus.
Other characters that outlets have suggested that could be potentially apart of the film include Kree soldier Mar-vell (original Captain Marvel), along with Marvel’s space Jesus Adam Warlock and his villainous alter-ego Magus.
SOURCE: JAMES GUNN