Guardians of the Galaxy Director Stopped Production To Rewrite Key Scene

Director James Gunn once stopped the production of Guardians of the Galaxy to rewrite a key scene. In 2014, long before the WandaVision’s of the MCU, Gunn’s relatively unknown band of “a-holes” hit the big screen. For this reason, many deemed the Guardians of the Galaxy a risky venture for Marvel, but thanks to Gunn’s vision and the great performances in the film, Guardians of the Galaxy quickly became one of the most popular parts of the entire MCU. Their presence in Avengers: Infinity War grew from originally just being a cameo, and the Guardians will also appear in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

Like other great Marvel films, the first Guardians of the Galaxy sets up important story details that later played a big part in the franchise moving forward. Be it Gamora’s relationship with Thanos, the death of Peter Quill’s (Star-Lord) mother, and even reoccurring jokes like Star-Lord’s fascination with Kevin Bacon’s Footloose. One scene that does this in the original is when Gamora and Star-Lord are on a balcony, and they discuss Gamora’s past before talking about why Star-Lord’s walkman is so important to him. The scene also proves to be an important part of their early love story, as Gamora gets the story of Footloose and the power of dancing explained to her, and the pair has an ‘almost’ moment before Gamora refuses to give into Quill’s “Pelvic sorcery.” As it turns out, this scene also caused the production of Guardians of the Galaxy to shut down because it had to be rewritten.

Gunn, who is often seen answering fan questions on Twitter, recently engaged in another round of answering fan questions. A fan posed a question to Gunn, asking if there was a standout moment as a director, “either onset or in editing,” where he realized a scene did not work and what he did to fix it. Gunn replied by highlighting when “Quill & Gamora were on the balcony talking the scene (discussing Footloose).” The director noted that the scene “read okay,” but “was not working.” To fix it, Gunn said he shut down production “for an hour and rewrote the scene.” Full Tweet can be seen below:

The scene with Gamora and Quill on the balcony is a key scene, not only for that particular film but even for films like Avengers: Infinity War. The scene is one of the first real flashes of their burgeoning love story, a story that goes onto play a crucial part in the now-famous scene where Star-Lord lets Thanos win. Of course, it’s also one of the more touching moments in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, so one can understand why Gunn felt it was pivotal to get it right. Although it would be interesting to know why the original version of the scene did not work, Gunn doesn’t reveal why and instead explains in another tweet that a “small problem” in a screenplay can end up becoming “a huge problem on the screen." So Gunn clearly made sure that was not the case with Guardians of the Galaxy.

Gunn shutting down production for an entire scene to ensure that scene does work is another example of the director’s commitment and incredible vision for Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s also why he continues to be a presence in films like Thor: Love and Thunder as an advisor for the Guardians characters. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is finally expected to film later this year, and fans will see a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special next year as well. With this great Guardians of the Galaxy story, fans will certainly remember the excellence Gunn can bring to the screen with his heroes.

Next: Every Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie

Source: James Gunn