James Gunn Talks Baby Groot

Following the huge (and surprising) success of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, everyone’s been itching to get the gossip on the sequel, due for release next year. Director James Gunn previously revealed that the movie would feature Baby Groot (scene stealer from the first film) rather than the full grown version. During an appearance at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, Gunn suggested that there may have been some difficulties in the creative choices around the voice of Baby Groot. In the reel shown at Comic Con, Groot had no dialogue and Gunn was cryptic in interviews about how he might sound. However, the avid social media user has given a few answers online, having been bombarded with questions by fans.

What we know:

1. Vin Diesel will be returning to voice Groot in whatever form he may take. Gunn released a photo of a special ‘Groot script’, for Vin’s eyes only, explaining what each of his “I am Groot” lines means

2. Diesel will change his voice for Baby Groot – Gunn stated in an answer to one of many questions regarding the voice that Diesel is a talented voice actor and is able to do ‘many voices’. This suggests it will be all Vin rather than a digitally created voice

3. Gunn is keen to maintain some semblance of reality (as much as you can with a talking tree!) and has stated that Baby/Toddler Groot will not have the same pitch and tone as adult Groot. This means no deep voice out of a tiny baby mouth – sorry!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is due for release in May 2017

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Marvel Animation Has Confirmed Short Series For ‘Ant-Man’ And ‘Rocket & Groot’

Marvel Animation will be working on a pair of TV short series, titled Ant-Man and Rocket and Groot.

This information came from Variety’s article regarding international projects that will be made in France (due to their tax rebates on animation work). Both series will be made by French filmmakers.

Rocket and Groot will be directed by Arnaud Delord. His work mostly consists of music videos, but the visuals are wonderful and outlandish. This direction will be more than enough to showcase the adventures of Rocket Racoon and Groot themselves.

The team being Ant-Man consists of Kevin Manach and Ugo Bienvenu. They have a more retro-graphic style, which is going to be absolutely perfect for a comic adventure, especially a hero as crazy and fun as Ant-Man.

So far there’s no word on when productions beginning (hopefully soon!) and when we can expect to see the series, but for now, know that something awesome is in the works for Marvel Animation!

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – Villain Revealed

As always, Marvel is quite adept at keeping revealing plot details of their movies to themselves —characters included. However, thanks to some detective work by JoBlo, we now have the suspected role of a new villain narrowed down to one cast member.

Here’s a main cast list:

• Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord
• Zoe Saldana as Gamora
• Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer
• Vin Diesel as Groot
• Bradley Cooper as Rocket
• Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta
• Karen Gillan as Nebula
• Sean Gunn as Yondu’s first mate in the Ravagers
• Glenn Close as Irani Rael / Nova Prime
• Pom Klementieff as Mantis / Celestial Madonna
• Chris Sullivan (role unknown)
• Kurt Russel as Peter Quill’s father
• Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha 

Ayesha

Ayesha’s list of aliases is rather long: Her, Paragon, J’Ridia Starduster, and Kismet, to name a few. Thanks to JoBlo’s independent sources we know with certainty that her name in GOTG 2 will in fact be Ayesha. Who is Ayesha? Basically a bunch of scientists came together and created “the perfect human.” She has kick-ass superpowers, and her ultimate goal is to find the perfect mate.

Elizabeth Debicki

So who is this actress, Elizabeth Debicki, and why is she getting the role of such a kick-ass villain? While she certainly looks like a promising Ayesha, with her beautiful golden skin and blonde hair, she has years of experience starring in major stage performances, films and TV series. Her accredited stage performances include the productions The Gift and The Maids, at the Melbourne Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company respectively. Some of the major films she has starred in are The Great Gatsby (2013), Macbeth (2015), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), and Everest (2015). Most recently she has caught the eye of the public with her performance in the TV series The Night Manager.

So what are your opinions on this casting? If you’ve watched Debicki act before, do you think she suits the role well? Or would you have preferred a different casting? Comment, share and like below, or tweet me @SohoDoll. And as always, “I am Groot.”