12 things we learned from the Guardians of the Galaxy Q&A

We’re still five months away from finally getting to see how Marvel have adapted Guardians of the Galaxy for the big screen, but studio boss Kevin Feige, director James Gunn and star Chris Pratt are already on the promotional trail.

[Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn: Thanos might differ from comics]

The trio took part in a live chat this weekend, sponsored by AMC theaters, to talk about the upcoming space extravaganza inspired by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s 2008 run on the comic book.

Here’s what they told us.

Don’t think superhero movie, think space opera…
“It has the Marvel flavour, but it also has a lot of old-school space opera about it,” says Gunn. “As much as it seems like a big action adventure - and it is that, it’s a spectacle film - but it really is about the characters, it’s driven by the characters and their relationships. They’re an eclectic band of characters that come together for a single purpose - and maybe never saw themselves being thrown together before that.”

Everything’s connected…
“It couldn’t be more distant in geography to the other films - 99 per cent of this movie takes place on the other side of the galaxy,” says Feige. “But the themes and interactions are very much rooted in the Marvel world and there are a handful of characters in this movie that you’ll see carry through to the broader threats that are facing our other characters here on Earth.”

Looking as good as Chris Pratt is really hard work…
“It was about seven months, which is pretty fast considering how much weight I lost,” explained the actor. “I did a lot of sports growing up and for me there’s a certain mindlessness to it that I really like. You don’t have to think - that’s really good for me. I worked my ass off, with the help of really great people, I got a little grumpy and a little hungry.”

James Gunn likes working with a bigger budget…
“The think about me is I generally hate making movies,” he laughs. “I feel driven to make films. The actual shooting of them is pretty hellish for me, but I definitely enjoyed making this movie more than I enjoyed making other movies. The whole process lasted about two years, but I surrounded myself with some of the best people in the industry and it made my job a lot easier.”

He’s also a genuine Guardians fan…
“This is a completely honest movie,” Gunn assures us. “There’s no BS in this movie whatsoever. I really love these characters like my children - I don’t have children, this is the closest thing I have. We’re completely sincere about it.”

Hooked on a Feeling isn’t the only awesome song on the soundtrack…
“There’s a lot of other cool songs in the movie. The music takes this overwhelming space opera and connects us to Earth and grounds us in reality,” says Gunn.

The talking racoon plays…
“To believe this movie you have to fall in love with the characters,” says Gunn. “You have to fall in love with a talking racoon and you have to believe that he actually exists. He is not Bugs Bunny in the middle of The Avengers. This is a sad little mangled beast that actually exists. That was my thing from the beginning was to take this outlandish concept and make it fun, but make it as believable as possible.”

As does Star-Lord’s mask…
“The mask is really cool. It’s so badass,” says Pratt. “All of the props on this thing are like the most amazing toys you’ve ever seen but they look legit and real. They bolted the mask onto my head, so they couldn’t take it off - I kept sprinting into really hard things. It was a work in progress, but I think it looks really cool.”

Chris Pratt nearly didn’t get the job…
“I didn’t want to see Chris audition,” admits Gunn. “We went through a lot of people, and we saw a lot of really, really good actors, but I was looking for someone who inhabited the role and went beyond it - in the same way Robert Downey Jr did with Tony Stark. Nobody was quite there and the casting director kept suggesting Chris Pratt - I was like ‘What? The chubby guy from Parks and Rec?’ Get that out of my face!’ I thought it was a bad idea. I said no a million times. But she put one over on me and arranged the meeting and Chris came in and read, and I went ‘Holy God, he’s the one’. And I knew it.”

‘Unique’ is Marvel’s watchword for this movie…
“All of us wanted to do something new, something original, something outside of the build up to The Avengers 2,” explains Feige. “We were excited to bring Guardians to the screen and do something on the other side of our universe. With every movie that we make, we want them to be very unique and very different. But with this one we really wanted to do something original - this is unequivocally new and fresh and original. I think in a year where there’s lots of familiar things popping up, this will feel really unique.”

We’re going to love it because we’re smart…
Not our words, but Chris Pratt’s: “It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s truly different than anything you’ve ever seen and it’s going to knock your socks off. I think you’re going to love it because you’re smart,” he says.

There might not be a post-credits scene (there probably will be)…
“I’ve always said that we don’t look at those post-credits scenes as mandatory in any way,” says Feige. “If we have something fun to connect we’ll do it - and part of the fun of sitting through the credits is waiting to see if something’s going to be there or not! But we build the additional time in to our schedules from the beginning, because we never know exactly what it’s going to be.”

Guardians of the Galaxy hits cinemas on 1st August, 2014.