Vin Diesel Talks "Groot" and "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Walt Disney Home Entertainment provided the following question-and-answer interview with actor Vin Diesel as a promotion for its Blu-ray and DVD release of Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy.  "Q" is the anonymous questioner and "A" is Diesel:

AN INTERVIEW WITH VIN DIESEL (GROOT) FOR THE BLU-RAY AND DVD RELEASE OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Q: How was it working with a script where your only line is “I am Groot”?

A: I was lucky that I had a director [James Gunn] who was willing to indulge me. I told him: ‘We know that Groot is really saying any number of things when he says that line and most people are oblivious to the nuances of his speech because of his hardened larynx’. All you hear is the growl but he could be saying any number of things and we know that Rocket Raccoon understands him. He doesn’t always tell everybody he understands Groot and he plays on that, but he does understand him. So I asked James: ‘Can you give me a basic idea of what he’s trying to say when he’s saying “I am Groot”?’ James had a 50-page document waiting for me when I came in to do the voice. On the left-hand side of the page it said ‘I am Groot’ and on the right-hand side it had whatever the line really was if you could understand this floral colossus. That was the beginning of trying to go deep into a character like this. In many ways it was the most challenging thing to ask an actor to do. The thespian in me responded to the challenge of not being able to use facial expressions, physicality or a Golum-like vocabulary.

Q: Were there other actors in the recording booth with you?

A: No, there weren’t, but I did have the luxury of being able to watch the film. Both Bradley [Cooper, who plays Rocket] and I had the advantage of being able to play off the other actors by watching them in a rough cut of the film.

Q: Did you do any of the motion-capture for the character?

A: A lot of times in animation, what they’ll do is they’ll film you in the recording booth. So I went in there with stilts so I could actually be seven and a half feet tall. Don’t ask me why, but there was something about it that really helped with the character. In New York acting circles in the 1970s there was this legend that Robert De Niro didn’t know his character until he found that character’s shoes. Who knows how that works? But in its own way it did. For me, being seven and a half feet tall did something. I found myself dropping my shoulders, I was sometimes self-conscious about my height and sometimes I felt very powerful about my height, and it affected the character that way. Groot’s the most innocent character I’ve ever played. I don’t usually play characters who are that innocent.

Q: There’s something of Chewbacca from Star Wars in Groot. Was that deliberate?

A: The similarities are obvious and fun, but it wasn’t what I was thinking, going into it. It’s probably down to James Gunn.

Q: Was that you doing the dance moves for Baby Groot at the end of the film?

A: [Laughs] Yeah, it was.

Q: And what would be the first track on your own Awesome Mix tape?

A: It’d be When the Saints Go Marching In; The Beatles version, by the way, not Elvis Presley’s. I’d also have Rocky Raccoon on there, also by The Beatles. People don’t know that the Rocket Raccoon came from a Beatles song. Who’d ever think that a Marvel character would be inspired by a Beatles song? They just changed him from Rocky to Rocket.

Q: You have millions and millions of Facebook followers. Why do you think that is?

A: I think it’s because I share my thoughts. Remember that movie The Social Network where they showed the beginnings of Facebook? They didn’t even know what they had started because they thought their brilliant idea was to check people’s marital status. [Laughs] But that wasn’t so brilliant. What was so brilliant was the idea of interaction. If I could have interacted with Marlon Brando as a kid, wow! If I could have spoken to him, or written to him, or read from him, or followed him – that is what has made social media what it is, that interaction. When I started on Facebook there was only Obama who had a million fans and he got elected, in part, because of his social media presence. When I started talking on Facebook I was being real. It was almost more therapeutic for me because I’d always been reserved. I’m not out there that much and I’ve always protected and maintained my privacy. I felt detached from my audience in some way, unlike my younger years on stage where you get that immediate gratification and you’re able to see how you’re affecting the fans and the audience. With Facebook, suddenly I was able to interact with people all over the world and essentially create this community. It was a very powerful moment. It was something very special and very therapeutic to me, and it’s something that’s affected the last five years of my career. So much that’s happened and so many of the accomplishments have come from that. In fact, the reason I’m here now talking about this movie is because Facebook fans started creating fan art that put me in the Marvel universe or fantasizing about me as a Marvel character. Then when I met with Marvel we were talking about doing something in the Phase Three, 2017/2018 slot. But social media demanded we do something now and that’s when [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige called me two weeks after I’d been to Comic-Con last year, and he said he’d come from the Captain America press junket and the big question was ‘What are you doing with Vin?’ Then he told me ‘You’re a tree’ and all my childhood phobias came back to me. I had to face that fear of walking onto the stage as a seven-year-old and having the director say, ‘Vin, you’re playing the tree’. [Laughs] Now we face our fears!

Q: How do you see the character developing in the next film?

A: I think there’s something very fun in imagining how that might be. I expect we’ll learn more about him. He’s such a complex and fascinating character. He’s a scion of a noble family and probably one of the most intelligent Marvel characters of all. He loses his intelligence every time he dies but he never truly dies and it’s a small price to pay for immortality.

Q: Besides other actors like Marlon Brando, who are your real-life heroes?

A: Well, our mothers are our first heroes. Mine is MY superhero because when I was an infant she was a single mother to me and my twin brother in New York, traveling from the Bronx to Brooklyn with two seven-month-old babies. And now look where I am! She’s a hero in that respect. She’s a special woman. My father is a hero, too.

Q: What drew you to acting in the first place?

A: I started acting at a young age. I remember being five years old and watching my father do roadshow theatre. We went up to Maine and I watched him. He’d dyed his hair white – I remember that. Later I grew up in a government subsidized building for artists in New York and if you made more than $10,000 a year you’d be kicked out of the building. It was kind of a bohemian artists’ community that made art for the sake of art, but for me there was something very therapeutic about acting. I was a kid like everybody else, maybe with a heightened quest for identity. Whenever I would play a role, the parameters of my identity were clear. There was something comforting or therapeutic about that.


Guardians of the Galaxy is available on Blu-ray, Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere December 9, 2014

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Writer-Director James Gunn Talks About His "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Walt Disney Home Entertainment provided the following question-and-answer interview with writer-director James Gunn as a promotion for its Blu-ray and DVD release of Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy.  "Q" is the anonymous questioner and "A" is Gunn:

AN INTERVIEW WITH WRITER-DIRECTOR JAMES GUNN FOR THE IN-HOME RELEASE OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Q: What were the biggest challenges in bringing Guardians Of The Galaxy to the screen?

A: The biggest challenge was definitely having to set up so many characters and so many foreign planets that nobody had ever heard of within the first 20 minutes and then get to the story. To have people feel comfortable with the plot and who the characters were while telling a fun, engaging story – that was the big challenge. I really look forward to doing the sequel because I won’t have to do all that heavy lifting. I can just focus on the characters and the adventures they go on.

Q: How would you sum up the movie yourself?

A: I see it as a space adventure but with a lot of comedy and a lot of heart. We didn’t restrain ourselves in any way, other than just keeping the characters as real as we possibly could.

Q: Was it tricky getting the tone of the film right in terms of not making the comedy too adult?

A: I was thinking that if I had kids, which I don’t - I have a dog but I don’t care what my dog sees – then what would I really care about them seeing? Would I care about them seeing a raccoon say ‘S**t’? Not really. There’s one risqué joke in there that no kid will understand and if they do they’ve been watching something else risqué, but mainly I was thinking about what would be OK for my nieces and nephews to see. But I don’t think I’ll ever write anything that’s not funny because it’s what comes naturally to me. I’m writing characters, I fall in love with those characters, and those characters make me laugh as they go about their lives. I’m just writing down what they’re doing as I see it happen in my brain.

Q: Were you heavily influenced by the Marvel comics when you made the movie?

A: Yeah, especially the 2008 team because Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning wrote the series. They’re the ones that chose the characters who are in the movie and the characters they chose were all sort of Z-grade comic book heroes, some of whom had been around for 30 years. Groot first appeared in 1963. So there was a lot of humor and a lot of interesting stuff in those comics, a lot of space fantasy, and so if there was anything that influenced us when we were making the movie it was Dan and Andy’s work. I’m very indebted to those guys. I’m also indebted to some of the Cosmic guys from the 1970s like Jim Starlin, who created whole universes that really began the Cosmic side of Marvel, and he created Thanos. There are a lot of those elements in the film.

Q: The humor in the film is very bold and brave, but did anybody try and rein you in?

A: It was the opposite, actually. There was a lot of humor in my first draft and I thought ‘This might be a little too out-there for Marvel and they might want to pull it back and make it a little straighter’. I actually brought that up in the first meeting because they really liked the script, which of course I was incredibly relieved to hear, and they actually said, ‘You can make it funnier if you want’. And that’s what I did.

Q: The film is sure to be a DVD and Blu-ray favorite. How do you think it will replay repeatedly?

A: There’s lots of little things in there that people might miss the first time round. There are all kinds of things from the Marvel universe. I was very specifically thinking of the R2-D2 model that Spielberg had on the spaceship in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind when I did the Collector’s Museum scene. If you freeze-frame it you’ll see all manner of references. We also have Cosmo popping up, who’s a character in the Guardians Of The Galaxy comics. He’s a Russian dog who speaks with a Russian accent and that was our nod to him. I really like Cosmo in the comics but he’s very hard to have in the movie because it’s difficult to have a live-action dog next to a CGI racoon due to the way fur looks on screen. In the comics they don’t get along at all, which is why they’re growling at each other in the film. Also, there are some deleted scenes and outtakes because we’d goof around on set a lot, and they’ll be on there.

Q: Did you already know Chris Pratt, who plays Peter Quill/Star-Lord, before making the movie?

A: No but through the process of making the film he’s the one I became closest to. We became very good friends and he moved next door to me when we were based in London so we could hang out all the time. I didn’t know him before but strangely we have a couple of close friends in common, which I think made us instantly trust each other because the friends in question are very good people. They’re guys that I like. They’re just good, basic dudes.

Q: When you’re working with a huge budget is it easy to get carried away and go ‘I want this and I want that’?

A: I don’t do that. I’m selective. For me having a big budget is definitely better than having a small budget simply because visually I can do what I want, but there are always strengths that come through limitations. On this movie, though, having the budget was great.

Q: How did you choose the songs for the soundtrack?

A: For me that was the most fun part probably of the entire film. When I first wrote my treatment for the movie I put a picture of a Sony Walkman on the top of it. That was probably the first sign that this was not the typical thing, but Kevin Feige [the producer and Marvel Studios president] loved that Sony Walkman and he was going, ‘I wonder if we can work that into the advertising somehow’. We didn’t do that in the end although it would have been cool. To me, the songs are the emotional center of the movie. They’re Peter Quill’s attachment to earth and his attachment to the mother he lost. The songs were very important and they were all baked into the script. The way I chose them is that I went and I made a playlist of 500 pop hits from the 1970s on my iTunes, then I whittled it down to about 100 songs that seemed tonally in line with what I saw in my head. With those 100 songs I would play them around the house and be inspired by them, then when I wrote the script I’d try to find the right song for the right moment, like when Peter is dancing through the temple. At first I wrote it with Hooked On A Feeling in mind then changed it to Come And Get Your Love halfway through. I’d try and find the right song for the right moment.

Q: Were there any instances where you were refused permission to use a song or it proved too expensive?

A: No, never. Part of it was probably the songs I was choosing. With the exception of David Bowie – and Moonage Daydream isn’t one of the more well-known David Bowie songs – they were mostly songs that people had probably heard but they probably didn’t know the title of the song and they probably didn’t know the artist. I wanted to get things that were familiar but not too familiar. It’s not like I was putting The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin on the soundtrack. Because of that fortunate aesthetic choice it meant that the songs were not unaffordable.

Q: Why do you think Guardians has been such a big hit with audiences?

A: The thing that makes it so much fun is taking these outlandish situations and these outlandish characters and then having these aliens act like they’re real people. The things they’re arguing about are things you’d argue about with your friends in your apartment. That’s a big part of the fun of it. I also think it’s a reaction to a lot of the other blockbuster movies. We’re not taking ourselves too seriously and we’re not adding a sheen of darkness and broodiness over the movie to cover up the fact there aren’t real characterisations in there, and we’re not adding a string of explosions with no character moments in between – we’re creating something that is, first and foremost, about those characters. I love those characters with all my heart and I’ve put them on screen to the best of my ability.

Q: What were the big movie influences for you?

A: I thought of the movies I loved as a kid, like Raiders Of The Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back and Back To The Future. I wanted to create a movie that wasn’t necessarily like those movies but a movie that made me feel like those movies made me feel. That was the starting point.

Q: If you had the whole Marvel universe to choose from, who would you like to see in the sequel, even if it was just for a cameo?

A; [Laughs] I do have the whole Marvel universe to choose from. It depends on where we go with the sequel. At some point the Guardians will meet up with characters from other Marvel movies and that’s totally cool, but it’s not really my interest. My interest is to keep building Marvel Cosmic and to make Marvel Cosmic as cool as it possibly can be, and also to bring in other characters that I didn’t get to put in the movie. There are a lot of Marvel Cosmic characters I’m really into that I think would make great cinematic heroes or villains. The opportunity to create them for the screen is exciting to me.

Q: The cast has said you have a very definite idea of what you want. Is that something that stems from directing independent movies?

A: It’s just sort of how I create something. I need to have a very specific idea of where I’m going and [laughs] when I don’t, I fake it. It’s how I go about doing things and I really believe that Hitchcock idea that the movie is really made before you step on set. The majority of the filmmaking process is in pre-production. The more you’ve planned out the more freedom there is on set to find new stuff, to play around, find new jokes and let the actors kind of breathe – but it needs to come from a place where it’s completely structured.

Q: Hitchcock also said he preferred the preparation to the actual filming process, but it sounds like you had a great time making Guardians…

A: We had a great time and we really like each other. I always think back to something I heard Madeline Kahn say when I was really little. I don’t know why it stuck with me but it’s that Twinkies are delicious to eat but it doesn’t mean people who work in the Twinkie factory are having an especially great time. Obviously it meant something to me because I heard it when I was around seven years old and I still remember it. Maybe I even made part of it up. I don’t know. I think she said that. So making a movie is not easy but this one was fun.

Q: Chris Pratt says you had to tire him out to get what you wanted. Do you deliberately use tricks to get responses from your actors?

A: I don’t know if they’re tricks, it’s just a method and it isn’t necessarily true for everybody but Chris is such a cerebral guy. He doesn’t seem that cerebral, I know; he seems like a dummy. But he’s a really cerebral guy and he thinks a lot. One of the tricks with Chris is to keep pushing him and pushing him until he gets to the place where he’s just acting on instinct, then you capture this magic. Unfortunately I didn’t know that on the first day of shooting; it took me a little while to learn it. With Dave Bautista [who plays Drax The Destroyer], on the other hand, we understood each other from the moment we met each other so that was a little bit easier. With different actors at different times you get what makes them click.

Q: How important is it to cast name actors like Vin Diesel [Groot] and Bradley Cooper [Rocket] when they’re not actually appearing on screen?

A: I didn’t know Vin was going to be as important as he was. That’s the grace of God. We had other people doing the voice for a temporary track and it was fine and the character of Groot was really cool. Then Vin came in and what he did was kind of miraculous. The editor Fred Raskin and I were sitting in the room and we kept turning to each other because we couldn’t believe how much of a difference he made to that character. Suddenly Groot was complete and he was full and he was real, and that’s because of Vin’s voice. We had this secret script that had ‘I am Groot’ on one side and on the other side it had the lines he was actually saying. Sometimes he was cursing and sometimes he was saying a whole paragraph and at other times it was just one word. It’s amazing to me how when Vin says ‘I am Groot’ he gets across what he’s meant to be saying. We have Rocket in the movie interpreting what Groot’s saying and it’s funny, but we kind of get what he’s saying anyway. Having Bradley do Rocket was a little different because I knew Rocket was as important as anything in the movie. We auditioned a lot of people but it was difficult to find somebody who was able to do all the comedy that Rocket does and also be as emotionally grounded as Rocket needs to be. He really is a haunted little beast. He’s the least happy of all of the Guardians and I needed that on screen, and I also needed someone who was going to do a character, not just come in and do their celebrity voice over this animated raccoon. I needed someone who could create a character out of him and Bradley had the track record of being able to do all that. My first day of recording Bradley was maybe my happiest day making this movie, [laughs] and by happiness I mean relief because it’s pretty much how I experience pleasure.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is available on Blu-ray, Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere December 9, 2014

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Dave Bautista Talks "Guardians," Zoe Saldana, and WWE Merchandising

Walt Disney Home Entertainment provided the following question-and-answer interview with actor Dave Bautista as a promotion for its Blu-ray and DVD release of Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy.  "Q" is the anonymous questioner and "A" is Bautista:

AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVE BAUTISTA (Drax the Destroyer) FOR THE BLU-RAY AND DVD RELEASE OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Q: What were the big physical challenges for you on Guardians Of The Galaxy?

A: I didn’t actually find it physically super-challenging, to be honest. It was so much fun, man. I don’t want to make it seem like it was a simple project because it wasn’t that by any means, but I didn’t wake up in the morning thinking ‘Goddammit, I’ve gotta go to work’. I was happy and excited. It’s hard to say it was challenging because it was such a good time.

Q: How did you deal with the long hours in the make-up chair?

A: I just zoned-out, but I’m usually a pretty quiet person. I know that’s a really boring answer but it’s true. It wasn’t as bad as people might think because it was kind of like hanging out with your friends for a few hours, just talking, and the time flies by. It was more of a chore taking the make-up off – getting gunk out of your ears and your nose.

Q: You’ve said you can relate to the character of Drax. Can you explain that a little further?

A: Your first assumption with Drax is that he’s just this one-note, stereotypical warrior who looks menacing and scary, but the way I approached him is as a father and a husband who’s really suffering from a lot of heartbreak. He channels his heartbreak into revenge. I can relate to him because I’m not the person I appear to be at first glance. It’s kind of a double-edged sword for me because I actually look this way as a result of the way I am internally. I spent my whole life being very shy and introverted and I kind of found my release and therapy in the gym. I became this big, menacing physical stature of a man but internally I’m still kind of insecure. [Laughs] Warm, fuzzy and gooey.

Q: How was working with Zoe Saldana (Gamora)?

A: I have the toughest time describing her to people because there are different sides to her personality. On one hand she’s very strong and intelligent, but at the same time she’s like a princess. If you say she’s a princess it’s gonna make her sound like a little ditzy thing and if you say she’s strong and intelligent it makes her sound very stern. I always say she’s a diva, but not in a bad way. With most people you say ‘She’s a diva’ and people think ‘Well, that means she’s a bitch’ but Zoe’s like a diva in a good way.

Q: Given your WWE background, did your fellow cast members look to you for advice on falling without hurting themselves etc?

A: Actually, it was so different from anything I’d ever done that I put myself in the student role. What they do in films is so different; it seems so much more precise and it’s working towards camera angles whereas in wrestling it’s physical improvisation and the cameras are moving to suit us, you know? We’re not working for the cameras; we’re working for a live audience, so it’s really different. There were things I wasn’t qualified to do, like a lot of the big stunts. I didn’t feel safe doing those.

Q: How was Guardians director James Gunn to work with?

A: He had such a clear vision and he made it super-simple. You always knew exactly what he wanted. I learned from Zoe to ask a lot of questions. As I say, I’m usually very quiet and I don’t say much, but I learned to start thinking of things from different angles and different peoples’ perspectives and to ask questions that made total sense to put you in the mood. James always had an answer.

Q: Was there a defining moment when you decided you wanted to try acting?

A: I’d done a few bits and pieces, some TV stuff, when I was with the WWE but still I had no interest in pursuing acting. Then I did a cameo in a movie which was not a great movie; it was called The Wrong Side Of Town and I did a cameo in it as a favor for a friend. I went to shoot it on the first day and I realized how bad I was at acting. I thought it would be easy, for some reason, but I could feel how horrible I was. I was a little bit embarrassed. But I usually find that I want to pursue things that I’m terrible at because it’s a challenge for me. It was a defining moment because I realized I sucked as an actor.

Q: Do you collect action figures of yourself?

A: I used to collect the wrestling ones but there were just so many of them so I gave up. They’d put out a new one like every week. It was ridiculous. That’s what the WWE does – they’re a merchandising machine. I was injured for a while, I was on TV and I had to wear this stupid Ace bandage. I was given a pretty light schedule and I went to do an autograph signing session. I was sitting there one day, this kid came through and he had this action figure with an Ace bandage. I said ‘That’s cool, did you make that?’ and he said ‘No, I bought it’. While I was still injured they’d put out an injury edition Bautista doll. That’s how fast they’re on it. It’s insane.


Guardians Of The Galaxy is available on Blu-ray, Digital HD and  Disney Movies Anywhere December 9, 2014

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Chris Pratt Talks "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Walt Disney Home Entertainment provided the following question-and-answer interview with actor Chris Pratt as a promotion for its Blu-ray and DVD release of Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy.  "Q" is the anonymous questioner and "A" is Chris Pratt:

AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS PRATT (Peter Quill/Star-Lord) FOR THE BLU-RAY AND DVD RELEASE OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Q: You’ve been pretty busy lately. Does it feel like your time has come?

A: [Laughs] Man, I am busy! And yes, it does feel like that. But is it overwhelming? Not really. I have the benefit of not over-thinking much in my life. I’m kind of just along for the ride. Also, I learned at a very early stage in my career to always lower my expectations, no matter what. If you don’t, you just get your heart broken. [Laughs] So I’m just expecting that something is going to go horribly wrong.

Q: Amy Poehler from Parks And Recreation says you’re a brilliant improviser. Was there much call for that on Guardians Of The Galaxy?

A: We got to do a little bit but you’ve got to be careful when you’re on a movie that costs, you know, $15,000 a second. You can’t just go blowing takes by trying out some new material. It was less improvisation and more collaboration in terms of the comedy. I would go to James [Gunn, the director and co-writer] and say ‘Hey, this is what we should do in this scene…’ Like having people go ‘Star-Lord who?’ That whole thing was not written that way originally. I said ‘People don’t know who Star-Lord is, you know? It’d be kind of funny if everyone is going “Who?” That was a collaboration, and there were little things like the joke about the legend of Footloose. I came up with that because I was thinking, ‘If this kid was nine years old when he left earth he would have seen Star Wars and he would have seen Footloose, all the movies I loved when I was his age’. We were both born in 1979 and I was nine years old in 1988, just like he was. That kid is the kid I was too. Granted our circumstances were very different; his mom dies and he gets thrown into space and is given the opportunity to be a space adventurer.

Q: You’ve said that your spirit was right for the character of Peter Quill. Can you explain that further?

A: I didn’t have to change all that much. If anyone else had done the movie it would be a different movie. I didn’t pull a Daniel Day-Lewis or anything like that. I just threw on a space jacket and pretended it was me, and I think it works. That’s what I meant by that.

Q: What were the biggest physical challenges?

A: The preparation. That was a big part of it. The first five months of my involvement on this film were spent transforming myself physically. I was in LA working with personal trainers and nutritionists every single day. It became my job. The thing I loved most about comic books as a kid was the imagery: The covers and these super-ripped dudes and mega-sexy women. It was fantasy to me. It’s what I appreciated most as a kid and it was what was most important to me in approaching this role – so I tried to get my body to look as much like those guys as I could. I enjoyed it but it was pain.

Q: Were you on a strict diet?

A: Definitely. It was like chicken, broccoli and rice; chicken, broccoli and rice; chicken, broccoli and rice.

Q: What was your wife Anna Faris’ reaction to your new physique?

A: She would vacillate between being turned on and happy and like ‘Oh my God honey, look at your body, that’s crazy!’ That was one side but the other side was ‘Oh will you just eat something, you grumpy bastard!’

Q: How did you feel when you looked in the mirror and suddenly saw this amazing body?

A: Well, it wasn’t that short of a process. Maybe to the media it seemed that way, going from Parks And Recreation and Delivery Man to this, but it was about seven months in total, working hard every single day. So I saw the process slowly and I was documenting it as I went. I was taking photos. But for the first three months there was almost no change. I was gaining muscle but my body weight stayed the same, although my body composition changed. I would lose fat and gain muscle, lose fat and gain muscle, but I stayed around 270 lbs. for the longest time. I couldn’t break below 270 and then I couldn’t break below 260. I kept hitting these plateaus where I couldn’t lose any weight, then all of a sudden I’d drop 7 lbs., then there was another plateau. I just kept pushing through. It feels from the outside looking in that it was an instant transformation but it did take a pretty long time. I was probably training for three hours a day and I put in something like 400 or 500 hours in the gym.

Q: You’ve mentioned that Peter is a mix of Han Solo and Marty McFly. Why those two iconic characters in particular?

A: They were two of my favorites growing up. I imagined that for this kid who would have seen Star Wars and Back To The Future they’d be some of his favorite characters too. I wasn’t necessarily aiming for that so as I’ve talked about the movie since it probably seems it was more intentional than it actually was. But it’s a good way to describe Peter Quill… If you’re looking at the taxonomy of it he’s one part that, he’s one part this. [Laughs] But really I didn’t know what I was doing, I was just trying not to get fired every day!

Q: Your son Jack is going to love you when he’s a bit older and he realizes his dad was in The Lego Movie and Guardians Of The Galaxy…

A: He’s too young now, but there’ll be a moment when he figures it out. [Laughs] He’s gonna be completely screwed up.

Q: Is working on a Marvel movie like a dream come true for you?

A: It is, yeah. Of all the roles that are out there, anything that could potentially be a franchise, something that’s different and something that caters to my strengths in a nice way – anything like that would be a dream role. But the fact that it’s commercially successful, that’s an extra bonus. It’s like the full house and I’m feeling pretty good about it.

Q: For a kid, seeing Guardians for the first time must be as exciting as seeing Star Wars for the first time….

A: I just missed seeing Star Wars in the theater but I remember it being this all-consuming thing. I’d be playing in the back yard with a fake light saber and I was either Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader or my brother was like Luke Skywalker and I was Darth Vader. I had Chewbacca toys too. So Star Wars was a big part of my childhood and Guardians does feel like that. Having read about it or seen documentaries about it, I now know what Star Wars was at the time. There was all this mythology around it. The actors had seen it and kind of thought it sucked. Then there was the first screening, after George Lucas had put in the score and added the effects, and it was amazing. There were moments on this film where I was, like, dancing in front of 200 alien extras and they were going ‘Oh my God, this is the movie they’re making?’ There were moments where I too wasn’t fully able to see James’ vision, just as all those guys weren’t able to see George Lucas’s vision. With Star Wars nothing like it had ever come out before and it had pushed technology to its absolute limits. It was an epic space adventure with fabulous music. There were a lot of similarities, so yeah, I think this is going to be something that will last.

Q: How does it feel to think that, just as you pretended to be Luke Skywalker when you were a kid, there are now kids who will pretend to be Peter Quill?

A: I guess it’s a bit surreal. There’s not an appropriate feeling to process so I guess I don’t feel anything quite yet. I feel fortunate, I guess. Fortunate and kind of weirded-out! I know it’s a good thing. I don’t want to over-think it but down the line I could have Peter Quill’s wardrobe at home and there is something that Russell Wilson, the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, does. I’m from Seattle and I’m a big fan of the Seahawks and he’s a great quarterback. Anyway, every Tuesday he goes to the Seattle Children’s Hospital and he hangs out with the kids. You see these pictures on Twitter and he’s there with these kids who are in various stages of terminal illness or who are really injured or hurt. They have this huge smile on their face and they feel so special because the winner of the Superbowl has come to their room to say hi to them. I’ve thought about that a lot, you know? There’s a possibility that this character could become so iconic that all I’d have to do is throw on this wardrobe, drive down to some hospital or set it up with them, and I could give a kid a memory and a picture that they would never forget. That would be really cool.

Q: Do your friends react differently to you now you’re a big movie star?

A: They make fun of me. Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley? It’s this cultural phenomenon where there’s this little paper doll named Stanley and people take him places and have a picture with him. You take Flat Stanley to the Grand Canyon or you take Flat Stanley to the ocean. Well, my friends are doing that with my Star-Lord doll. They’re going ‘Hey, I’m having lunch with Star-Lord’. The weirdest one? My friend somehow snapped a picture of himself in the toilet with Star-Lord watching. That wasn’t very respectful!

Q: What kind of director is James Gunn? What is it like to work with him?

A: You have to be a maniac to direct a movie like this. [Laughs] There has to be something wrong with you mentally, I think. It requires a type of hyper-focus over the course of many years. Day in and day out you’re thinking about the same thing, which is basically micro-managing and making critical choices when it comes to every single department. He’s somebody who has a strong point of view and he was perfect for this movie. He’s a huge fan of Marvel comic books and of all comic books. He knows all of the comic books, how they go back, how all of the characters were introduced – he’s a fanboy so the audience is in good hands. I remember seeing the animatics for the pod chase sequence – a cartoon that he essentially directed before he even shot the movie. He showed me my character and what he’d be doing, this little animatic Peter Quill, so he knew exactly what he wanted. Then when he shot the movie he matched it to the cartoon he’d already directed. It’s a pretty awesome way to do things. The cartoon of the whole movie probably took six months to direct, then he made the actual movie based on that. I remember watching this cartoon of the pod chase and I was like ‘That’s good enough for me’. I would have paid 12 bucks just to watch the cartoon, it was so good. I was amazed but James was looking at it and going ‘It’s not right, do it again’. At that moment I thought ‘Wow, I could never be a director’. When you have this magnitude of scope and budget you’re seeing the most amazing toys you’ve ever seen and the most amazing sets you’ve ever seen, but James was never blinded by the enthusiasm of seeing all that. It never deterred him from his critical thinking. He knew exactly what he wanted and the reason the movie is as good as it is is because he never settled for anything less than perfect.

Q: On set, how did he direct you personally?

A: He develops techniques for working with each actor. He had to learn how to wear me out. He’d beat me down and wear me out. Two thirds of the way through the movie I was really easy to direct because I was tired. He told me exactly what to do and I did it. There was one time where I was going ‘It doesn’t make any sense to me’ and he said ‘It doesn’t matter what you think or feel’. Was I OK with that? Yes I was because I get neurotic and I get inside my own head, and I don’t have the experience on film that he does. He was right; at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what I feel. He has an overall vision knowing exactly what this thing is going to look like whereas I, as an actor, assume the entire thing lives or dies by this moment I’m creating. That moment is maybe just three percent of what’s happening. You’ve got everything leading up to that moment, you’ve got all the music surrounding it, you’ve got the camera moves, you’ve got the visual spectacle of it all… Watching that animatic I realized all I had to do was speak as clearly as the words were written at the bottom of the cartoon and it would work. The only way I could screw it up would be by not speaking clearly and you wouldn’t believe how hard it was sometimes because as an actor you don’t always want to speak clearly, you’re like ‘I have to take a moment to act, I have to take a moment to process’. I can’t tell you how many times James was like, ‘Dude, just say it louder and faster’. I’d be like ‘That’s not an actionable direction’ and he’d go, ‘Just shut up, say it louder and say it faster!’ I’d get so furious but when I watched the movie I was going, ‘I wish I’d said it louder and faster’.

Q: Are there any scenes that were cut out you’d be happy to see in the DVD and Blu-ray extras?

A: I think the film is perfectly paced and pretty economical. I don’t think it should be any longer than it is. It’s the perfect length. But there were some comedic moments I’d be happy to see on there - things that play up Peter’s penchant for the femaliens.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is available on Blu-ray, Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere December 9, 2014

- ENDS -

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Joe and Anthony Russo Talk About Making "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" Grounded in Realism

Joe and Anthony Russo are the film-making brothers who won an Emmy for directing the episode "Pilot," of one of my favorite TV shows, "Arrested Development."  They also directed the smash hit Marvel film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Walt Disney Home Entertainment provided this question and answer with the brothers to coincide with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Blu-ray and DVD. - Editor's note

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOE AND ANTHONY RUSSO FOR THE BLU-RAY AND DVD RELEASE OF CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the second chapter in the thrilling Captain America movie franchise. The exhilarating story follows Marvel’s First Avenger, Captain America, along with Black Widow and their new ally The Falcon as they battle their most mysterious and powerful enemy yet, the Winter Soldier.

With the blockbuster superhero movie about to be released on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, we catch up with the directing team of brothers Joe and Anthony Russo to find out about their experience on the iconic Marvel project…

What makes Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier stand out from other Marvel movies?

Joe: I think it is the level of realism and intensity that makes this movie stand out. Up to this point, I think Marvel films have really embraced the fantasy component, but we have tried to infuse it with intensity and edge. It’s aggressive. We wanted a movie that would grab you and wouldn’t let go until the end. Hopefully we’ve accomplished that and I think that’s what distinguishes it from other Marvel movies.

How did you accomplish this?

Joe: We talked to Marvel early on and said, “People will tell you that they love chocolate ice cream, but if all you give them is chocolate ice cream, sooner or later they’ll get sick of it.” We wanted to throw a curveball and add something to their toolbox going forward that they could use to diversify and dimensionalize the universe.

Why was it so important for you to ground the action in reality?

Anthony: The movie is set in the political genre and that world is exciting because it has stakes that feel real to you. We were trying to play on a lot of our contemporary anxieties in the storytelling and the realisms flowed from that. This movie has a darker tone and it needs real stakes. That’s what drove us.

How difficult was the challenge of adding more realism to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Joe: Well, I was ecstatic as any fan on the planet when I saw what Kevin Feige was doing with The Avengers. I’ve always thought in my own head, ‘How do you pull off an Avengers movie?’ How do you get past so many logistical and financial reasons that mean this movie shouldn’t exist? It’s a real feat, and he pulled it off. If you knew how complicated it is behind-the-scenes to make a movie like that, you’d be amazed. You want the comfort food of that idea, but I think that in order for these movies to keep growing and staying interesting, they have to shift; the tone has to shift. We have to experiment with different flavors…

Anthony: Like Pistachio!

Joe: …To keep it fresh. Hopefully, that’s what we’ve hopefully done with this movie.

What was your biggest challenging in directing the movie?

Joe: The choreography of the action is intense and it’s a very protracted process. It takes a lot of prep and you’re working with a lot of people. Thankfully, we were working with really talented people; from our stunt coordinators to our VFX department to our special effects guys – everybody was the best in the business. Marvel attracts the crème de la crème of talent in the business.

Was it easier to step into a film where most of the characters have been pre-established in earlier Marvel movies?

Joe: We come from television shows like Community and Arrested Development. We always say that after two episodes, the actor knows the character better than we ever will. In that sense, it’s easy to rely on the actor to bring truth to the character. It’s great for us because it’s like a short hand where they can show up with the characters already in place. We just worry about the arcs and the tone of the film. It takes a lot of burden off directing the performance and allows you to focus on the bigger picture of the movie.

How did you balance technology with real sets on Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

Anthony: We wanted to be very careful with that on this film. The level of realism was important to us and it was something that Marvel really embraced. It was a challenge to render the world and the effects in a way that felt very grounded and real world.

Joe: It’s an execution thing. We had a sequence on a freeway and we could have gone to a back-lot and built a little stretch of freeway and green-screened it. But, instead of that, we went to our hometown and got in a lot of trouble for shutting down the freeway for two weeks. We were able to shoot and execute a lot of those stunts practically and I think that enhances your experience because you can feel those things happening for real.

How did it feel to shoot in your hometown, Cleveland?

Joe: It was awesome to be able to go home and shoot. It’s a town that we love and know really well. Not only were we able to share this town with the crew, but also it was easier for us to find locations. We know where everything is, so we could quickly explain to the crew where certain locations could be shot. We understood how to shoot the town because it was the third movie that we had shot there. Also, it was fantastic to have our family around as a support system when you’re working on something of this scale.

Robert Redford was a stellar addition to the cast of Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. What was it like to direct such an iconic actor?

Joe: It was amazing.

Anthony: Amazing!

Joe: We couldn’t say enough about him as an individual, and as an actor. He’s truly a renaissance man. He’s like a prince of a human being. And we’re children of the 1970s and of 1970s films, so we’ve seen everything he’s done. I’ve seen Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid a million times. To be able to work with him was the highlight of our career.

Robert Redford is a distinguished director, as well as an accomplished actor. Did he offer his directorial input into the movie?

Joe: He is so easy-going and balanced and his knowledge base is incredible. He will offer input or advice when he feels it’s necessary, but he’s never overbearing with it.

Anthony: He’s very respectful and he’s just a lovely man. It was really a privilege to work with him.

What makes the Winter Soldier the perfect villain for the movie?

Joe: It’s a gift to have The Winter Soldier in our movie; it’s a real gift. The genius of [Ed] Brubaker’s comic run is that he took Captain America’s best friend and turned him into the villain. They always say that your hero is only as good as your villain. And, when the hero has so much emotional turmoil in his relationship with the villain, you can’t ask for better storytelling. We were gifted with a great story arc between Captain America and the Winter Soldier. That’s another reason why I think the movie skews darker, too. It’s very rare that you find a villain who has such a strong emotional connection to the hero and where the stakes are so high.

Anthony: It’s very complicated.

Joe: We said to them that this is Star Wars. You know, it’s Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

In your opinion, can any woman replace Peggy Carter in Captain America’s life?

Joe: Hayley Atwell did a fantastic job with that role. She’s very charming and beautiful.

Anthony: And that was certainly an issue that Cap was dealing with in this movie.

Joe: And it’s how to reconcile that in his life.

Anthony: But the relationships are very important in the movie in general. His relationship with Natasha [Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson] is very important in this film. And his relationships with Fury [Samuel L. Jackson] and The Falcon [Anthony Mackie] are also important.

How challenging was it to come up with a new design for Captain America’s costume in the film?

Joe: The execution of the costumes is a critical and key component for us in the movies. It’s based on our style and our tone and what we like. Again, with everything based in realism, we wanted the costume to be Kevlar-based. We wanted to make sure that the costume had a very functional purpose. That way, when he wears it and you look at him in it, you say “Oh, that’s to stop bullets. I understand.”

Would you say that the costume is as true-to-life as possible?

Joe: Captain America is a stealth operative for S.H.I.E.L.D in this movie, which is another factor that pointed us in a direction for the design of the costume. If the character is working in darkness and in clandestine operations, he can’t wear a target on his chest. He needs to move around in the shadows. We drew upon the more recent versions of the outfit from the comics.       

How did your knowledge of comic books inform your directing style?

Anthony: It was most important in terms of the approach to the character and in terms of the version of Captain America we wanted to show in the movie. We didn’t want to get caught up in the boy-scout version; we really wanted to butch up the character. We wanted to bring him into the modern day and make him a man’s man that we could relate to. His virtues are like Rocky Balboa’s in the sense that he has a very simple goal and very fixed virtues. However, he’s unbreakable too, and that’s what is fun about him. In this movie, it was our job to think, ‘Ok, how are we going to break him?’ That’s very much how we approached the film.

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Angelina Jolie Talks "Maleficent"

This Angelina Jolie Q&A (provided by PRNewswire) features questions and answers about the new Walt Disney Picture's film, Maleficent.

 Q: What attracted you to the role?

 A: I loved Maleficent when I was a little girl; she was my favorite Disney character. I was afraid of her and I loved her. So, when I'd heard rumors that there might be a Maleficent movie, I asked around to find out what was going on. Then I got a call asking if I was interested and I said absolutely. I said I loved the idea of it but I didn't know how one could turn that idea into a film because how could you make a film about somebody who curses a baby and what kind of film is that going to be? I said yes, but I didn't really think they'd be able to figure it out. And then they did.

 Q: When you first read the script, what did you think?

A: I was really moved by the script from first reading. It was like uncovering a great mystery. We all know the story of "Sleeping Beauty" and we all know Maleficent and what happened at the christening because we've all grown up with that. But what we've never known is, what happened before?

Q: What are some of the things that we can expect?

A: People will see that she's the same wicked Maleficent. What I loved about the original Maleficent when I was little was that she had a wicked sense of fun. She enjoyed being evil and she reveled in it. She still gets to do that and she will satisfy, hopefully, the people that, like myself, are fans of the original. But you get to learn more about her and how she became evil.

I think that audiences will approach the christening scene differently. When you know what you know about her, by the time you get to the christening, if we've done it right, you may be on her side, which, if we can pull it off, would be extraordinary. Maleficent has a strong sense of justice; she has a strong heart and a strong sense of what she thinks is right and wrong and then she loses her way.

Q: What were some of the ideas you brought to this character?

A: I wanted to make sure we didn't lose her sense of wicked fun because I think it's a very beautiful story. It's kind of a different but classic fairy tale and it has a lot of heart. We want to revel in that and that was very important for me as well as that she was somebody that was relatable.

When I first read the script, I was very moved by it, so I sat my girls down and told them the real story of Maleficent. Then the next day, my little boy got into a fight with one of my daughters because he was saying, "Maleficent's evil. She's scary and she's evil." And my daughter was saying, "You don't understand. You don't know everything." I thought that was very interesting. Don't we all wish we could say, "But you don't know everything. You don't know me completely; you don't see the full picture." So when I heard my little girls defending her, I thought that this would be a character that I would hope that young girls and boys would see and would relate to. I hope the girls, especially, will see the importance of having a sense of justice and a sense of what's fair and what's worth fighting for. They'll see that they can be warriors and at the same time soft and feminine and deeply feeling, with all the complexities women have.

Q: Has your understanding of the character changed since playing her?

A: It changed all the way through the filming because she's taught me a lot. Maleficent is certainly one of the most difficult characters I've ever played because she represents all sides of what it is to be human, even though she is not. She was a very innocent youth with those kinds of qualities that you see in a lot of young people today where they're very passionate about environmental causes or the world or politics. Then she gets beaten down by betrayal and becomes quite dark and loses her humanity completely and then has to find it again.

For me, the journey of playing her has been much heavier, much more emotional, and much more difficult an experience than I expected. There's a part of me that plays big fun roles, but never this big. She's slightly crazy, extremely vibrant, a little wicked and has a big sense of humor, so she's quite full on. It's one of those characters that, for me, you couldn't do halfway.

 Q: Tell us who Stefan is in the story and how your relationship changes.

A: Stefan is a human boy who Maleficent meets in the moors when she's young. They become best friends but as they grow up, the way they view the world changes and they have very different opinions. They both, at different times in the story, go very dark. They end up becoming enemies. Maleficent ultimately finds her humanity again and Stefan doesn't.

Q: Tell us who Diaval is.

A: Diaval is the most complicated character to explain. Diaval is a bird that Maleficent turns into a man because she needs someone to fly for her at a certain point. She then uses her powers to turn him into many other things, depending on what she needs. So this character, played by Sam Riley, is, on occasion, a bird, a wolf, a horse, or whatever animal she needs.

I think, especially for children, it's amazing to have this character that transforms into all these different personalities and all these different things. But they have a very bizarre relationship. At first Maleficent's quite controlling over him and then he tries to stand up to her and they bicker a lot. They're like a weird married couple that watches Aurora as she grows up. Maleficent has a disdain for Aurora and everything that she represents and Diaval's a little more nurturing.

Q: What do you hope the film will bring audiences?

A: Everybody involved is hoping to bring audiences the feeling that we've respected the classic film and if they loved the classic, we've tried to bring them what they've remembered and loved about this story. But we've tried to enhance it and also make it beautiful and touching. We hope that audiences care about the characters, Aurora and Maleficent and Stefan and everybody involved; whether they love them or hate them at moments, that somehow they deeply know them and they're deep, good characters.

But we also hope to bring a real world that they've never seen before and also action sequences and everything audiences want in a film. You have to have romance and you have to have action and you have to have stunning sets and you have to have a story you care about and a great script and you have to have surprises and you have to have all of it for it to work.

Q: Tell me about your daughter in the film and how she got the role.

A: There are a lot of different Auroras in the movie. There's a baby Aurora, whom I've shot scenes with. I tried to be as nice as I possibly could, but the way I look as Maleficent just scares babies, so this little, teeny, sweet baby is traumatized by me every time she sees me. She gives this very furrowed brow and then within a matter of minutes she's crying. When crewmembers brought their young kids almost always they would cry and run away from me, so we realized that the only four year old that would probably not run away from me was my own daughter. We had to put Vivienne in the movie because no other little kid would allow me to pick them up because I look so scary.

Q: Has it been fun working with her?

A: It has been fun but it's hard work. Kids want to do a scene once and they want to be done with it. They don't want to wear something that they don't want to wear and they don't want to smile when they don't feel like it. But Vivienne did, in the end, have a good time because we made it fun.

Q: Who are the pixies in the movie?

A: The pixies are three wonderful actresses, extraordinary actresses, who are playing the already famous pixies. You know them by color: the green, pink, and blue. Maleficent has a funny relationship with them because she hates them. I get to banter with them and especially Imelda Staunton, who is Knotgrass. So to actually be dressed in the horns and having my own crazy character moment and having her as a little fairy yelling at me in her crazy moment is one of the best crazy moments I've ever had on film. The three pixies are so funny together and certainly the comedic relief and the joy of the film.

Q: Who is Aurora in this film and what has it been like working with Elle Fanning?

A: Elle is Aurora. From the moment I met her, she is just sunshine. She's a wonderful, sweet, intelligent young woman. Elle's such a capable actress and a very strong person, which is nice because this Aurora is not just in love with the flowers; she is elegant and beautiful and delicate and loving, but she's centered and she's quite an impressive young woman. Elle is bringing all of that and a great deal of emotional depth and her talent, as an actress, has really surprised me. She's great.

ABOUT THE MOVIE:
"Maleficent" explores the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the classic "Sleeping Beauty" and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king's newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds herlegacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and isforced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever.

The film stars Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville.

"Maleficent" is produced by Joe Roth and directed by Robert Stromberg, with Angelina Jolie, Michael Vieira, Don Hahn, Palak Patel, Matt Smith and Sarah Bradshaw serving as executive producers. Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay. "Maleficent" opens in U.S. theaters on May 30, 2014.

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The Beau Garrett TRON: Legacy Q&A

After playing lots of supporting roles, actress Beau Garrett now has a main role on the CBS television series, "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior."  She also appears in TRON: Legacy as "Gem."

AN INTERVIEW WITH BEAU GARRETT FOR TRON: LEGACY

How does it feel to be part of TRON: Legacy?

BEAU: It feels amazing to be part of the TRON universe. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I first signed up for this role because I hadn’t seen the original TRON movie. I was born in 1982, which is the year that the first movie was released, but I’d never heard about it until I signed up for TRON: Legacy. I didn’t know anything about this amazing, futuristic world. It was completely new to me.

How would you describe the movie?

BEAU: TRON: Legacy is a classic adventure where a guy called Sam Flynn gets transported to a world we don’t know anything about. The new world is very seductive and dream-like – and it’s filled with danger.

Does the audience have to know much about TRON to enjoy the sequel?

BEAU: No, and that’s why it’s such a great movie. This movie stands alone, so you don’t have to know anything about TRON to understand the story of the sequel.

What attracted you to the role of Gem?

BEAU: I was shown loads of wonderful pictures of the TRON world when I first met with the director [Joseph Kosinski] and producer [Steven Lisberger]. The pictures depicted how they wanted this amazing, futuristic lair to look – and I was blown away by the imagery. I jumped at the chance to work on the project. This has been such an exciting experience for me. I’d never done anything like this before with all the special effects, crazy wardrobe and fantastic makeup. It was really fun to step into this futuristic world and play something completely different.

What can you tell us about your character?

BEAU: When I first met the movie’s director, he described Gem as a half-robot, half-woman character. She is emotionless and curious. She is sensual in a lot of ways and she’s very aware, but she’s a little robotic in her movements. She’s a program in the futuristic world of TRON.

What went through your mind when you saw the finished film for the first time?

BEAU: I was overwhelmed. I was blown away. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was so proud to be part of something so amazing. It took them a year and a half to finish the film after we shot it because they had so much CG work to do. It took my breath away when I finally saw it.

What was your biggest challenge on the set of the movie?

BEAU: I would definitely say that my costume was a huge challenge because it was extremely constraining. It’s a beautiful costume that lights up and it was an amazing feeling to walk onto the set wearing something like that. It was such a strange and powerful feeling, but it was also incredibly constricting at times. At first, I struggled just walking around in the suit. It even gave me bunions and my feet hurt because the shoes were incredibly high. I couldn’t take the outfit off all day, so it was a physical challenge that became a mental challenge, too. It was tough to focus in the beginning, but it became awesome. It looks stunning on screen, so it was worth the pain.

Did the costume help you get into character?

BEAU: As soon as the suit was on, I became Gem. A lot of the other actors on the movie had to work on green screen, but I was lucky because most of my scenes were in the club and they’d built a practical set for those sequences. The club set amazing and there was a crazy attention to detail. We had hundreds of extras on the set and Daft Punk were playing in the DJ booth. It immediately took everyone away to this modern, high-tech world. It blew everyone away.

How long did it take you to get ready for Gem every day?

BEAU: Getting into the costume was a hugely detailed process that took about six hours every day. Some days we’d get it down to five hours, but usually it was more like six hours in hair, makeup and wardrobe.

Can you take us through your daily routine?

BEAU: The first step to creating Gem involved her wig. They would spend an hour working on my hair. Then I’d head over to the Makeup Department where they would ‘white out’ my skin so that you couldn’t see any lines on my face. After that, it was back to the Hair Department to finish the wig. That whole process would take two and a half hours and I wasn’t even in costume yet.

When did you get into costume?

BEAU: The costume would come next. Well, part of the costume anyway. I’d get into the base of Gem’s suit, but then I would head back to Makeup for more touch ups. It took so much patience to get into the costume every day, and that’s something I struggled with. It was also painful. The wig was extremely heavy and there were bobby pins sticking into my skin. It was tough.

Was it easy to get out of the suit at the end of the day?

BEAU: It was easier to take it all off, but it still took a long time. The suit had four layers, including a corset and various other parts. I hung out in it a lot because once I was in it; I was in it for the whole day. They actually redesigned it at one point because it became too much. Originally, the shoes were attached to the rest of the costume. It was a huge one-piece, but they ended up separating the shoes so that I could take them off and relieve my feet during the breaks in filming. That was a huge relief.

What was the atmosphere like on the set of the movie?

BEAU: The atmosphere was electric. Everybody on the set was extremely excited and they gave 110 per cent. There were people who were willing to say, “Yes, take off my eyebrow for the character. Do whatever you want!” It was amazing.

What was it like to work with Jeff Bridges on the movie?

BEAU: Working with Jeff Bridges was fantastic. I only had to do a few scenes with him, but he is such a doll. He’s the easiest of people to work with. It never felt intimidating to work with him; it was easy and fun.

And what was it like to work with the director, Joseph Kosinski?

BEAU: Joe has created a film that will blow people away. He is a genius. He had a great vision for this movie and he gave us loads of freedom to play around with our characters, so it was a really collaborative process. This is Joe’s first movie and he’s nailed it. He’s got a quiet, strong presence about him, but he’s created an incredibly detailed and mysterious world. I was overwhelmed when I saw the first finished shots. The music takes you away and the visuals are amazing. You’re going to love it!

TRON: LEGACY is now available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Movie Download.

Bruce Boxleitner Talks His TRON Legacy, Part Two

In the original TRON, Bruce Boxleitner played two roles, Alan Bradley and the security program named Tron. Boxleitner reprises the roles in TRON: Legacy and plays two new parts. Disney has provided this interview with the actor:

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRUCE BOXLEITNER FOR TRON: LEGACY

What can you tell us about TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: TRON: Legacy is a father/son story. It’s the sequel to TRON and the story follows a guy called Sam Flynn who is in search of the father he never really knew. Sam feels abandoned by his father, who went missing 15 years ago, so the story has an element of classical mythology to it. Sam learns about himself as he sets out on this journey of discovery. He soon finds himself, as well as his father.

Hoes does it feel to see people excited about the TRON universe again?

BRUCE: It feels great, although I’m amazed because when we shot the original movie, we had no idea that it was going to become a cult classic. We knew we were working on something cutting edge, but the film didn’t have a ton of success when it was first released. However, as the years passed, I kept seeing it pop up on Top 10 lists of fan favorites and cult favorites. I would say that 85 per cent of the autographs I have signed over the years have involved a piece of TRON memorabilia. Even when I worked on the TV show, Babylon 5, I was still signing TRON merchandise – especially overseas. There were always huge lines of people waiting with TRON memorabilia when I visited countries like Australia and the UK, and I was always surprised because I never believed that it would come to that.

What attracted you to the sequel?

BRUCE: The idea of working with Jeff Bridges again was a big plus point for me, but I was also intrigued to find out what had happened to these characters. It’s been 28 years since the first film was released and I wanted to know where they went during that time. When I first read the script, I was thrilled by it because I had no idea that Alan Bradley would become such a lost soul. It was such a great idea that it was a no brainer to sign up for the sequel. I was thrilled to be asked to return.

What do you think of TRON: Legacy cast members Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, who play Sam Flynn and Quorra in the movie?

BRUCE: I’m very proud to say that I started on the movie earlier than everybody else. I was hired to screen test all of the young talent fighting for the roles that were eventually won by Olivia and Garrett. I screen tested all of the Sam Flynns and all of the Quorras – and it was a lot of fun because I got to work with a lot of young, new, talented people. It feels really good that these two made the cut because they were my personal picks. I was really impressed with their work. They are both going to go far in their careers.

In what way did the filmmaking process differ between the original TRON and TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: The two movies are both cutting edge and they’re both years ahead of their time, but they were shot completely differently. On the original movie, we were running around in tights with a Frisbee taped to our backs. We were wearing hockey helmets with motocross shoulder pads and armguards, along with high boots. If you had to go to the bathroom, someone had to unzip you and you’d have to take everything off just to go for a pee. We were promised the movie was going to look good, but we had no idea what was going on when we shot it. We were blown away by the results, though. It looked amazing.

How does today’s filmmaking compare?

BRUCE: Today, filmmaking is still a long process – but everything is much more sophisticated and technologically advanced. There are no tights and no Frisbees. The costumes are incredible and the motion capture used in TRON: Legacy blows me away. The bulk of my time on the set of the movie was spent in the real world, so I didn’t experience the technical side of filming as much as Garrett Hedlund and Jeff Bridges. However, I was extremely impressed with everything I saw.

What do you think of the light suits used in TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: I think they are fantastic. They have lights incorporated into the actual suit, so they’re very different to the tights we wore back in 1982. The new suits are spectacular. There was this wonderful moment on the set of TRON: Legacy where the director would yell, “Light them up.” This happened just before he called “Action” and it was amazing because all of a sudden, all of these people on the sound stage would literally light up. It was amazing to watch.

How do you think the younger generation will react to TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: How will the younger generation react to the movie? Well, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback so far. Personally, I hope that a whole new generation falls in love with the movie and this cutting-edge world we created – and I hope it spurs them on to watch the original TRON movie, too. We have the original film being released on Blu-Ray, so it’s going to be out there for them. However, they don’t need to know anything about the original film to enjoy TRON: Legacy. It’s my character’s job in the movie to reveal the past mythology and to familiarize the audience with the story, so it’s all explained clearly at the start of the sequel. You know what? If kids today don’t like this movie, then I quit! Personally, I think this new generation is going to love it. They are going to be blown away. I can’t wait for them to see it.


TRON: LEGACY is Available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Movie Download April 5th!

Bruce Boxleitner Talks His TRON Legacy, Part 1

Actor Bruce Boxleitner has one of my favorite last names.  He has had a long career and appeared in several television series, including one of my favorite, the Raiders of the Lost Ark-inspired Bring 'Em Back Alive.  In the original TRON, Boxleitner played two roles, Alan Bradley and the security program named Tron.  Boxleitner reprises the roles in TRON: Legacy and plays two new parts.  Disney has provided this interview with the actor:

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRUCE BOXLEITNER FOR TRON: LEGACY

How would you describe the story of TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: TRON: Legacy is the sequel to TRON. The story of the sequel is set in real time, 28 years after the first movie. We revisit some of the characters from the original movie, including Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, and we revisit the world of Encom. We also meet Kevin Flynn’s son, Sam. Ultimately, the story takes us back down into the world of TRON where much of the action was set in the 1982 movie. However, it’s a different world now. It’s a darker, more violent and dangerous world down there.

What can you tell us about your character in the movie?

BRUCE: I return to play Alan Bradley in the sequel. Alan is the storyteller who bridges the past to the present. There’s a lot of history that needs to be told about the world of TRON and not everyone watching the movie knows that story, so Alan does that at the beginning of the sequel. He passes the torch onto Sam Flynn, who is the new hero of the movie. I guess Alan is the Alfred to Sam’s Batman.

What makes you choose that analogy?

BRUCE: Well, Batman always needs Alfred to remind him of who he is and where he came from. Alfred is also Batman’s conscience. Alan is similar because he’s the surrogate father to Sam Flynn. Alan’s best friend and creative partner – Kevin Flynn – has been missing for 15 years, so Alan has looked after Sam and has always kept an eye on him. Both of these guys, Sam and Alan, are wounded people because of the disappearance of Kevin. They’ve had no closure on Kevin’s story. They don’t know where he is; they don’t what happened to him. Is he alive? Is he dead? They have no idea. Both of their lives were altered seriously because of his disappearance.

How has Alan Bradley changed since the first movie?

BRUCE: Over the years, Alan has been a very successful man. He is currently the CEO of Encom, but he’s not respected within the company. His colleagues tolerate him in the boardroom, but he has no say because Encom has turned into something that neither Flynn nor Bradley envisioned. It’s a shocking change to where Alan was 28 years ago. He’s now a broken man; he’s a lost soul. He wanders the corridors of Encom wearing nice suits, he drives a great car and he makes a great paycheck. However, he has absolutely nothing to do with the company. That frustrates him. He’s nothing like the nerdy tech you saw in the original film.

What’s your favorite scene in TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: Shooting the seminal scene between Alan and Sam at the beginning of the movie really stands out for me. We filmed that scene in Vancouver and we spent all night outside a really cool freighter container house, which is where Sam lives. I think every young guy is going to want to have a home like that. It was amazing. I love this scene in particular because this is where the human side of the story really comes to light. It’s the human story that makes the movie stand out. TRON: Legacy is not just about special effects and computer wizardry; it’s got a heart.

Was it easy to play the father figure to Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn?

BRUCE: It was very easy because Garrett is a wonderful actor. I have three sons myself, so it was very natural to act out those scenes and relive being a father. In fact, I have a Sam Boxleitner. He’s a couple years older than Garrett, but that’s why it felt especially real. It felt like I was talking to my own kid and Garrett looked at me like I was his daffy uncle. That’s the way it struck me anyway.

What was your biggest challenge in working on TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: Portraying Alan Bradley again after 28 years was one of the challenges. What is this man now? What’s happened to him in this interim? I was fascinated by where these wonderful writers had taken these characters. However, I guess my biggest challenge involved the motion capture work on TRON: Legacy.

Can you take us through the motion capture process?

BRUCE: It was very technical. I had hundreds of dots placed over my face and I wore a helmet with cameras pointing at my head. The extras had no idea what was going on, but the dots were used as reference points for the amazing artists on the movie. They created a younger version of my face from 30 years ago. In fact, the same crew who worked on The Strange Case Of Benjamin Button worked on TRON: Legacy and you get to see Jeff Bridges in his 30s again, too. The work they did was amazing.

What else did you have to do for the motion capture process?

BRUCE: After filming finished in Vancouver, I had to go and have my face scanned in Los Angeles. The rig was immense. It was like walking into a UFO. I pulled every kind of facial expression you can possibly think of for the special camera set-up. The cameras captured every angle and every aspect of my face. They captured every aspect of my muscle movement. It was astonishing.

Was it very different to the special effects work on the first movie?

BRUCE: You know what? I look at how far effects have come since we shot the first TRON, but it’s not like we were in the Stone Age back then. We were state of the art at that time. We’re still state of the art with TRON: Legacy. It’s just moved forward a great deal.

What advances in technology did you notice on the set of TRON: Legacy?

BRUCE: Well, the suits are much cooler in the new TRON movie. For the first film, I wore tights with magic marker drawings on them, as well as a hockey helmet and motor cross armor. I was also throwing an actual Frisbee. I didn’t have that cool-looking rainbow disk that they throw around in TRON: Legacy. However, I’m sure that the thoughts going through the minds of the cast on both TRON movies was exactly the same, especially when shooting the scenes set on the grid. Everyone has the feeling that they are making something different and something cutting edge. Everyone feels that they are working on something state of the art. That feeling remains unchanged.


TRON: LEGACY is Available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Movie Download April 5th!

Joseph Kosinski Talks TRON: Legacy

Walt Disney provided this interview with Joseph Kosinski, the director of TRON: Legacy:

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH KOSINSKI FOR TRON: LEGACY

How did you get involved with TRON: Legacy?

KOSINSKI: I had a general meeting with [producer] Sean Bailey a few years ago when he asked me the question, “In the world after The Matrix, how do we go back to the world of TRON?” My initial idea was to embrace everything that Steven Lisberger had done with the first film. I wanted to embrace that aesthetic rather than try to create a new virtual world that felt like our own. When the first image comes on screen, I wanted people to say, “That’s TRON.”

How has the world of TRON changed since we last saw it?

KOSINSKI: The world has evolved and it looks more realistic, but I wanted people to realize straight away that we were back in that world. The idea for the setting of our film to be this server sitting undisturbed for 20 years was one of the initial directions I was interested in – and it all stemmed from there.

What happened after your first meeting with Sean Bailey?

KOSINSKI: I come from a background in commercials and the technique I use to pitch ideas within that field is to propose a two or three minute short film that allows me to show people the look and feel of a project. That’s what I did with TRON: Legacy. I created a short that highlighted the tone and vibe of the world, as well as a hint of the narrative. I built the short in a way that it could be used as a trailer. This was before we even had a script, but Disney agreed to give us a little bit of funding to create that short piece and we showed it at Comic-Con a few years ago. Once we showed the short there, the response from the fans gave us that extra push that we needed to get the movie into production.

What were your inspirations behind TRON: Legacy?

KOSINSKI: My inspirations are a combination of all my favorite films growing up, including the original TRON. When I first sat down with Steven Lisberger, he took me through some of the early sketches and concepts by [concept artist] Syd Mead. We looked at all of the concepts that they weren’t able to use in 1982, when the first film was released, so it was fun to find all this fresh material to draw inspiration from.

What else inspired you?

KOSINSKI: Just like every other kid of my generation, I was a huge Star Wars fan. I was also a big fan of Stanley Kubrick, so that influenced me greatly. I think the overall style of TRON: Legacy is a combination of a lot of different influences of mine. Personally, I studied engineering, architecture, industrial design and music, so all of these things have certainly what influenced me in my life. I was even going to be a jazz saxophonist at one point, so there’s a little of that in me as well.

How did your background in architecture help with the movie-making process of TRON: Legacy?

KOSINSKI: Beyond wanting to build beautiful sets, I think the way that I was taught to think in architecture school was a really interesting preparation for filming. You learn how to be self-critical, you learn how to critique your work and you learn how to take critique on your work. Having the awareness of what’s going on out there in the world of design and architecture – and being able to pull an amazing art department together – was a lot of fun. My background in architecture certainly helped that process.

How would you describe the story of TRON: Legacy?

KOSINSKI: The relationship between Sam Flynn and his father, Kevin Flynn, is what drives the entire film. That’s the core of the film and, believe it or not, that’s what we spent most of our time working on. We spent much more time on the story and the characters rather than on the visuals and the design of the film. To me, that is the most important aspect of the movie that everything else supports.

Can you talk about the casting of Sam Flynn, played by Garrett Hedlund?

KOSINSKI: The casting of Sam Flynn was an incredibly tough challenge. It was hard to find an actor that embodies all of those amazing qualities that Kevin Flynn’s character has and that Jeff Bridges brings as an actor. Jeff’s got that combination of brilliance and humor and looks – and a very laid-back style. Those are all really unique characteristics.

How many actors auditioned for the role of Sam Flynn?

KOSINSKI: We looked at hundreds of candidates for the role of Sam Flynn. It was a long process with lots of screen tests. We rang Bruce Boxleitner [who plays Alan Bradley in both TRON movies] and had him test with a lot of guys, but we finally settled with Garrett Hedlund and we’re extremely happy with the choice. He had the impossible task of carrying a movie like this on his shoulders and he’s only 25 years old. He had to play scenes with Jeff Bridges, Michael Sheen and all of these incredible actors, but he did an incredible job. I am really excited about his career. In fact, I think it’s just about to take off in a big way.

Was your work on the movie everything you expected it to be?

KOSINSKI: That’s a tough question. I worked on this project for a number of years and during that time I had a son, which made the father-son theme of the movie resonate in a very different way. I had a blast working on TRON: Legacy. I think one of the best things I’ve done in the movie is assemble such a great team. Everybody that worked on the film was incredibly passionate about the project and very excited to take part, even though it was a tremendous amount of work. We got an incredible amount of support from the studio and Disney – and it was a real pleasure to work with all of these incredible people. As much as I was looking forward to finishing the movie, I knew that when it was all over, it was going to be tough to return to life after TRON.

Can you talk about the theme of technology in TRON: Legacy?

KOSINSKI: I think that technology is definitely an overarching theme of the film. Technology is so pervasive in our world today, but what’s good about it? What’s bad about it? What’s important? I think it’s important to pay attention to the human connections that you have and not get lost in the digital world. I wanted that idea to be part of our movie.

How did technology assist in the making of the movie?

KOSINSKI: A film like this is all about collaboration and human connection – and technology helped us all the way through the process of making the film. You couldn’t make a movie like this by yourself. There were literally thousands of people working on the movie all over the world, including artists in places like India, Mexico City and Vancouver. I worked with a lot of the people through a purely digital connection over a conference call or cell phone connection or a video phone connection. Even though it’s a very high-tech film, my day to day work was all about communication with the people around me. I had to make sure everyone was working together and I had to keep the boat pointed in the right direction.

What new technologies or techniques were created to make the film?

KOSINSKI: We created cutting-edge suits, digital characters and we had the use of advanced 3D cameras for the making of the movie. We took three leading-edge technologies and combined them in one film in order to serve this story. When everything works together, you can make stunning images. It was a very challenging shoot, but I think it was worth it. I think we made the right choices to push the boundaries. I’m proud of everything we’ve done.

TRON: LEGACY is Available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Movie Download April 5th!