I think Guardians Of The Galaxy fans everywhere gave a little cheer when it was announced that Kurt Russell would play Peter Quill’s father. How could they not? It’s Kurt Russell, one of the coolest guys in the biz, kind of perfect to play Star Lord’s mysterious father.
When I spoke to Chris Pratt, it was quickly evident that Kurt Russell is, in real life, everything you hoped he would be. And after having the chance to meet him in person, I can assure you that he has ever ounce of that Kurt Russell swagger off screen as on screen. And I can’t wait to see what he brings to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 as he brings Peter Quill’s father to life as Ego, the Living Planet.
Thank you to Disney for inviting me to interview cast and crew on set.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 Kurt Russell Interview
We didn’t know much, anything really, when we met with Kurt Russell on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, and Kurt Russell was tight lipped about any spoilers. But obviously it was still a pinch-worthy moment to hang out with him on set and talk about the movie in between takes.
On his role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2:
I’m his father, and he’s a man of adventure and it’s a very full role. You have to play a lot of different types of scenes where we are emotionally very different. We get to explore a lot of Peter Quill’s past. You’ll learn a lot about where he comes from and why he is what he is. He’s coming from a position of having wondered about who his father was all his whole life, and it’s me.
On getting the part of Peter Quill’s father:
I was doing a publicity trip for Hateful Eight and suddenly one day all the reporters I ran into, everybody was saying, ‘Are you gonna do Guardians of the Galaxy?’ I’d never heard of Guardians of the Galaxy. ‘Are you gonna be Peter Quill’s father?’
I never had been involved in being asked about a character before I’d done it as much as that. I suddenly realized that this movie must have been very popular, and for some reason the audience cared about who his father was gonna be. So I said, “Well, I don’t know. I’ll see what it’s like.”
I read the script and I watched the movie, and I got the jest of the feeling of what the Guardians of the Galaxy world is like. I’ve done a lot of movies in the past, connect some dots there. I get very much why I’d be a good person to play the dad with the script that I had, so that was why this is gonna be fun to do. It’s turned out to be a blast. Chris is great, and the whole cast is great. And James, it’s fun to always work with someone who really knows what they wanna do, what they wanna show and pull off and try to create.
On the importance of music to his character:
It will be quite important. There’s a strong connection to music, particular songs. It’s a big part of this world, and he continues that theme very, very strongly.
On working in a world of CGI:
I’ve always been an actor that responds to the world around me, so the spontaneity is different. When we did Tombstone there was a scene where I was walking with Dana Delany. The wind was blowing that day a little bit and so it was blowing some of the cotton wood around, and one was gonna blow on her face so I just picked it like that and it was part of the scene and it was very organic.
That won’t happen [with CGI], so you have to invent that. That’s kind of fun to do. Chris and I did some stuff when we first got together, and he really knows that he’s my son and that I’m his father and I know that he’s my son and we’re doing this really cool thing and there’s nothing there. And he and I looked at each other and we were imagining things, but we were imagining the same things so that was fun to play with. It’ll be fun for us to see that physicalized.
That was fun because only he and I were knowing what was happening, and it’ll be fun to see that brought to life. But you can’t think of it. You know, it’s something you’re just doing a scene and something just happens. You might not even be right or wrong, but it happens and you go with it. A tree falls down. Play the tree fell down and you continue on or it stops and gives it a whole different, gives the scene a whole different feeling and meaning. I worry about that being lost. So in a movie like this, it’s just so chock full of things that don’t exist, but it’s fun to imagine.
On what he hopes people will take away from his character:
Well, good question actually because number one when you’re planning a character I think you try to find things that’ll be entertaining and do the them in a way that’s entertaining, that’s fun to watch. In movies like this it’s easy to sort of be frivolous and just look at it as comic book venue. There are two worlds, I think, that allow you to ask the big question and they are westerns and science fiction. You can get away with asking the big questions especially in westerns. You can get away with asking big, American, political questions because it’s so deeply engrained in American persona, even in children. Cowboys are a certain thing to us. The women who are connected to cowboys are a certain thing to us, exedrae, exedrae, exedrae. And in science fiction you can ask these, “Is there a God?” questions. “What would you do if you could be invisible?” They let you ask these huge questions.
And within the confides of this story, “What if you were Peter Quill and this happened to you?” This marvel comic book world that Guardians of the Galaxy is and you never knew who your father was, but like real life you have created in your mind someone who put on a pedestal. Which I think is a very important thing to talk about when you talk about children who don’t know who their parents are. Their father has left or their father never existed or their father was never in their life, or maybe he was there for a short while and he left. Are you responsible for that? All those very real human things.
So when you say what do you get out of that, hope to bring for the audience, I do hope to have all the entertainment value that you should get in movie like this, but underneath is the reality of when you’re playing it is the reality aspect of the relationship that is important to that person. That’s real, that has consequence, that’s not comic book, that’s not cartoon. It’s not funny even though some of it is gonna end up very funny, but that’s life. So that’s why I think one of the reasons James Gunn wants to get Kurt Russell to play the part because I’m gonna go in there and do that.
On Set With Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 blasts into theaters May 5, 2017, and it’s going to be awesome – mark my words!
Get your tickets now for opening weekend of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, you don’t want to miss what comes next in the story for this band of unlikely heroes.
Don’t miss any of my posts from the set ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol 2:
- 7 Behind-The-Scenes Facts From Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2
- Chris Pratt – Peter Quill / Star-Lord
- Zoe Saldana – Gamora
- Dave Bautista – Drax
- Michael Rooker – Yondu
- Karen Gillan – Nebula
- Director James Gunn
