Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 took the world by storm. James Gunn returns to the MCU for one last ride with our cute misfits as they take on the new villain, the High Evolutionary. One of the film’s many features is its scale. The sets, characters, and threats are huge. However, the film never loses sight of what strikes us the most: the emotional burden we carry on this journey.
Conversation with actors Miriam Shore (Vim recorder) and Nico Santos (Recorder Teal), they shed some light on just how big the stage was for Gunn’s latest MCU project. Working with the two right hands of High Evolutionary, the actors play a key role in the film and detail some of the film’s defining moments. They talked about the differences between Marvel Studios products and their previous experiences, as well as working with Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) and Chukwudi Iwuji (High Evolutionary).
MIKE THOMAS: Thank you both for joining me today. It was a great trip with the Guardians. I really enjoyed the film and your work on it, so congratulations on the release this week. For both of you, since this is your first MCU experience, how does it differ from your previous films? I know the scope and scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be a little intimidating, so how did you approach it?
NICO SANTOS: Yes, it was quite difficult. I’m a big fan of the genre but have never been in anything like this so I really honestly didn’t know what to expect. I guess I wasn’t ready to see how big it was, like there was an actual physical set. I talked to Miriam and Chuck [Chukwudi Iwuji] about it, it was very much like a theater because of the scale of the sets and just the grandeur of everything. And plus, you know, the characters we play were very theatrical from the very beginning.
In a past life, I worked as a costume designer for a theater company, no less for a Shakespearean festival, so I really thought, “Oh, this brings me back to the days when I used to sit backstage and watch these great Shakespearean actors perform,” and I just sat from behind, as if observing, you understand? And because Chuck and Miriam were so amazing at portraying these characters, I had to break out of it a couple of times and say, “You’re in the scene with them! You’re working right now, like, be present, be present.”
MIRIAM SHORE: Yes, that’s true. I’m also a big, big fan of the genre, so it was like a dream come true. It was like you suddenly become a normal adult and your inner child screams all the time you’re on set that you’re really playing in the sandbox. You won’t believe it, but you have to be a professional, so it was a duality of what I don’t know if I really achieved, But I have tried.
We were on the carpet before the premiere and the three of us were hugging each other and Chuck said, “It doesn’t matter what you do. It’s kind of as big as it can be, you know? The scale of it is everywhere, so enjoy.” It was a good reminder to remember to enjoy it, because what’s the point if you don’t?
This actually leads to another question that I have since both of you have been talking about your experience with Chuck, right? His screen presence in this film is so grand and so big, High Evolutionary. I love how he can go from calm and collected to just crazy over the course of a movie for a penny. What was it like to match that energy or work it off in those scenes?
SHORE: It’s like when you play tennis with someone who’s really good, your game gets better. I’m terrible at tennis, no matter what, no matter how good you are, I won’t be good. But, in acting, it’s like how you feel, right? It’s like it gives you permission to raise the stakes to the highest level, which is the most interesting way to do it. Everyone was so welcoming, do you find this Niko? I wasn’t afraid to go for it.
Santos: Yes, and I think that when James directed the character of Chuck, as Miriam said, it was like playing tennis. You were suddenly allowed to live up to that level, to live up to the evil and contempt of the world we lived in. We really took our lines from Chuck. There was a walking and talking scene that the three of us filmed where, really, that day I was like, “I can feel his anger seething off of him.” It’s such a quiet rage that lives inside a High Evolutionary and I really liked the feel of that scene, I was like, “I think Chuck might kill me when James yells ‘Cut…’ [Laughs]
SHORE: Maybe, maybe! It could happen. I also feel like we did a lot of takes and I was like, “Did we go 15 miles down this hallway?” [Laughs] Do you remember this? I thought, “I really train my hips. Today is leg day.
Santos: Oh, I was so nervous about that scene. I don’t know if you remember, I kept getting my lines wrong and saying, “I’m sorry, I swear to God, I’ve done this before.”
SHORE: No, but I feel like it worked so well for the energy because the truth is that this is a person who will create and destroy on a whim. I mean, I’m sure we’ve all had bosses like that. [laughs]. This is the worst boss in the world, like on a T-shirt: “The worst boss in the world.”
SANTOS: The tall evolutionist wears Prada.
This is the Disney+ show we need right now.
This brings me to a question I had for you, Miriam. One of the standout scenes in the movie for me is that as we see more of the High Evolutionary, you and the other people in the room end up pointing your weapons at the High Evolutionary. What was it like reading that part of the script where you think, “Oh, we’re going to have a little riot?”
SHORE: Mutiny! I don’t know, are we spoiling it?
Yes, spoilers are good!
SHORE: And then I’ll just disappear and you’ll never hear from me again. No, at that moment, are you kidding? It was fantastic when I read this moment. I thought, “I’m taking… I’m taking the ship? I take it with the ship? Oh God, I’m taking over the ship! With a space gun? It’s a scene I’ve played in every basement and backyard since I was six years old. If you know what I mean? And I was going to do it. So, it was beautiful. I was very, very excited to do this. And things don’t go as she planned, it won’t last long. It’s not the longest job—she could still put it on her resume, but it’s not the longest job she’s ever held—ship captain.
This was also a great turning point. Look, I could write a dissertation on all these films, I’m all too intellectual because it just gives me pleasure and I’m a sci-fi fan and that’s what we do. So, I thought, this is really the moment when the person who was following the leader to the worst possible place, over the worst possible cliff, just before that thought, “Wait, where, why… what am I doing? ? and this moment of interrogation. Because we have seen… These leaders will not go anywhere without followers, and what allows a person or being to follow the worst possible leader? And what is that moment like for them when they realize, “My God, I led myself off the cliff, I followed this man off the cliff?” And so it was quite fun to play at the moment when you kind of put on the brakes. - No, it’s too late.
SANTOS: I think at least the way I saw the Tel Registrar was like surviving Theel at all costs, so he kept following the High Evolutionary and just doing his bidding and just being so loyal to him. But then he would be the cause of our demise, which I think is so ironic that we do.
Niko, I have one more question for you regarding Thel. You become an obsession with Star-Lord once he finds out that you can get him the files to save Rocket. What was it like when you had to go up against Star-Lord and Groot? It got very intense there.
SANTOS: It was very intense. This scene was also such a big day of filming. That was the most fun because we filmed the parts with Chuck and Miriam and then the parts with me and Chris Pratt and Groot and then there were all the security guards and other recording devices. It was like, I don’t know, it was such a fun day on set because you saw everything, it was like, “It’s a Marvel production! And we’ll have stunts, explosions and CGI!” Everything just happened that day, and I just thought, “Bring it. Right now I’m literally living my dream and we’re filming this huge Marvel scene.” It was kind of like an out-of-body experience. I kind of just watched it from above because I thought, “I can’t believe this is happening!”
SHOR: Oh, I know. As a fan, you think: “How do they do it? Oh, that’s how they do it!”
SANTOS: Exactly! It was exactly like that.
Yes, taking it all. It’s amazing. Here’s my final question: Would you like to work with James Gunn at DC Studios?
SHORE: Yes! A thousand times, yes!
SANTOS: Absolutely! Absolutely.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 now in cinemas.
Source: Collider
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