Zitat:
Well, this week we start the U.S. press junket,
before traveling to Europe at the end of the week. Of course I know
some of the questions that come up a lot – “Wasn’t there a lot more
pressure dealing with the sequel of a beloved film?” (No, there was
less, because this time I knew there was an audience waiting to see
it!) and, “What was it like working with Kurt Russell and Sylvester
Stallone?” (Daunting and at times overwhelming – I ran around in my
backyard as a kid pretending to be Snake Plissken and John Rambo,
so these guys are true icons to me.)
But the question that comes up perhaps the most is, “What’s the
deal with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and are you going to
direct?”
Before I was able to honestly answer this, I needed to know it was,
in my heart, what I truly felt called to do. There is a history in
Hollywood of haphazard endings to trilogies, and I didn’t want to
become a part of that dishonorable tradition of pretending the
third one doesn’t exist. I couldn’t do it for the money, and I
couldn’t do it because it was what other people wanted me to do. I
needed to do it because it was what I needed to do. I have never
made choices in my career based on anything other than passion and
love for the stories and characters, and I didn’t want to start
now.
So, after many months of ruminations and discussions, I know the
answer. I could save this answer for the first, random interviewer
to ask me during the press junket but instead I thought I’d share
it with the most important people in the Guardiansverse – you, the
fans, who have been so incredibly supportive and enthusiastic over
the past five years, it has moved me to tears on a regular
basis.
So, yes, I’m returning to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3.
In the end, my love for Rocket, Groot, Gamora, Star-Lord, Yondu,
Mantis, Drax, and Nebula – and some of the other forthcoming heroes
– goes deeper than you guys can possibly imagine, and I feel they
have more adventures to go on and things to learn about themselves
and the wonderful and sometimes terrifying universe we all inhabit.
And, like in both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, we will work on creating the
story that goes beyond what you expect.
My partnership with the folks at Marvel Studios – Kevin Feige, Lou
D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Jonathan Schwartz – has been the
best of my professional career, and is a huge contributing factor
to my decision – as is my relationship to the guys at Disney
Studios – Bob Iger, Alan Horn, and Alan Bergman – who have been
cheerleading innovation and the pure love of movies from the start.
This is the kind of thing you’d expect a director to say about the
people who have just hired him, but people who know me know I would
never put up working with people I don’t like for a single movie,
much less two, and much, much less three. I love them all and
appreciate immensely their collaboration. I wake up every day
pinching myself that they’d allow this punk rock kid from Missouri
to help create this wonderful universe, and to not only allow but
encourage creative freedom while doing so.
I can’t fricking wait to get started.
Much of what’s happened in the MCU for the past ten or so years has
been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers’ Infinity War.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will
conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the
Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into
the next ten years and beyond. I will be working side-by-side with
Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and
make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special
and authentic and magical as what we have created so far.
I promise you, the fans, I’ll do it all with integrity and love and
respect for the characters.
Make mine Marvel.
We are Groot.
Excelsior!
Love,
James
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