Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt: Is there a future for the “Guardians”?

On May 3, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” will be the conclusion of the popular film trilogy that started in 2014 and features the Star Lord played by Chris Pratt (43), the tough Gamora (Zoe Saldana, 44), the humanoid raccoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper, 48), the monosyllabic tree creature Groot (Vin Diesel, 55) and many other colorful and dazzling characters in German cinemas.

In an interview with the news agency spot on news, the main actors Pratt and Saldana reveal whether fans can also hope for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4”, how the characters they play have changed in the trilogy’s conclusion, and what they all director and superhero mastermind James Gunn (56) owe it.

Marvel fans and viewers love the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Your director James Gunn is now switching to Marvel competitor DC. Do you think it would be possible to continue the series without him?

Chris Pratt: Of course, you never want to rule out a sequel, but since James Gunn is the author who brought this trilogy to the screen, there’s a certain sense of finality – regardless of whether the Guardians of the Galaxy over time in various iterations go on or not, there are recasts, or some of us return for cameo appearances, or somehow another film is put together. Since James wrote and directed all three films – the Guardians of the Galaxy as we know it – it feels pretty definitive to me.

Zoe Saldana: Absolutely.

Her character, Mr. Pratt, appears downright depressed at the beginning of the film because of his past love, Gamora. What’s going on with Peter Quill?

Pratt: Peter Quill is in a depressed state and is down. He drinks a lot. The love of his life, the woman who defined who he is, died and came back in a different version of herself. That’s a version that never met him. So their shared experiences are no longer shared experiences. They are just memories in Peter Quill’s mind. Because of this he is sad and longs to rekindle some kind of romance if that is possible. At the same time, it breaks his heart to know how much the relationship with Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy meant to Gamora and how good it was for her. When viewers meet him in this film, he is broken inside.

Ms. Saldana, this film gave you the opportunity to play an earlier version of your character who is meaner and tougher in many ways. As an actress, did you enjoy playing the meaner Gamora more?

Saldana: It was fun because this Gamora is definitely freer and wilder. When I read James Gunn’s script, she felt like a completely different person. What I liked best was the tension that the encounter with the Guardians triggers in her. Because they talk to her so familiarly and it annoys her because she doesn’t remember the Guardians. She just doesn’t know them. For Gamora, this is a very confusing state. I also loved that despite all of these things, James Gunn still gave Peter and Gamora that magnetism despite being the polar opposite of the earlier Gamora.

Mr. Pratt, you once said that in a way you owe your career to your director James Gunn and that the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films changed a lot for you?

Pratt: I think James said that about me [lachen beide]. Well, what I meant by that: For a long time, as an actor, I just wanted to work. And then I got a job too, which felt like a success to me. I didn’t have to wait any longer.

Then, when Guardians of the Galaxy became a possibility, I knew I had the ability to be a physical action hero. I played a SEAL in “Zero Dark Thirty” and people believed it, it seemed believable. I liked that, but at the same time I wanted to continue doing comedy. That’s when I thought to myself, maybe I need to develop some weird combination of my particular way of being an actor – being physical mixed with comedy. Until then, I hadn’t seen anyone do it.

Then the Guardians of the Galaxy movie came along, and James Gunn said to me, ‘We want someone who plays Star-Lord but molds the character from himself, breathes his own spirit into him and is completely the character becomes. You won’t be playing a version of something that someone else has never done before. I want someone who’s original and new, and has the confidence to do their own thing’.

When I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s exactly what I’m hoping to find’. So James gave me a platform to do exactly what I love to do in the most enjoyable way. He also guided me, refined me, and taught me how to be even better and believe in myself as a performer even more. So yeah, the possibility that he wrote, that he created, that platform, I jumped at it, and it catapulted me in an amazing way.