“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” stars Chris Pratt (Peter Quill / Star-Lord), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Will Poulter (Adam Warlock), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Sean Gunn (Kraglin / On-Set Rocket), Chukwudi Iwuji (The High Evolutionary) and writer Director James Gunn discuss their upcoming Marvel film and conclusion of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy in this post-Hall H interview with CinemaBlend at San Diego Comic-Con 2022.
Video Chapters
00:00 – Chris Pratt on Finding “Your Side”
00:35 – Chris Pratt Teases What’s Ahead For Star-Lord and Gamora In GOTG 3
01:24 – Karen Gillan LOVES ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Fan Reactions
02:00 – Karen Gillan Weighs In On Nebula Unaliving Nebula in ‘Endgame’
02:32 – James Gunn Teases a “Darker” ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Movie
03:20 – Sean Gunn on Baby Rocket’s Difficult Backstory
04:30 – Pom Klementieff on Welcoming New Marvel Actors to the ‘Guardians’ Family
05:15 – Pom Klementieff Teases A More Badass Mantis In ‘Guardians 3’
05:35 – Will Poulter Teases Adam Warlock Origins in ‘GOTG 3’
06:32 – Chukwudi Iwuji on The High Evolutionary and His Motivations
07:20 – Chukwudi Iwugi Praises James Gunn’s Dialogue
08:15 – Chris Pratt Recalls His Last Day of Filming the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Trilogy
08:55 – James Gunn Is Literally Always Writing and Rewriting Scripts
09:49 – Will Poulter Wants to Play Adam Warlock Again “If Marvel Will Have Me”
It may not feel like it sometimes, but any upcoming movie has the chance to be named “the greatest movie ever made” by someone out there. However, that honor does have some specific caveats if you’re someone like filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Not only has the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director chosen a Steven Spielberg classic for that very distinction, Tarantino also explained just why that title is very specific.
In an upcoming interview with our in-house podcast ReelBlend, Quentin Tarantino made his fourth appearance to talk about all things movies; the first since the big live show at the New Beverly Cinema. Promoting his new co-hosting gig on The Video Archives Podcast, Tarantino had yet another spirited discussion about cinema, which led to his pick of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws as the greatest “movie” ever made. That distinction is important, as the Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood director made that perfectly clear through the following remarks:
I think Jaws is the greatest movie ever made. Maybe not the greatest film. But it’s the greatest movie ever made. And then there are other movies that can get in its rarefied air. But as far as a movie, there’s no making it better than Jaws. There’s no ‘better’ than Jaws. It is the best movie ever made. And it shows how badly timed most movies made before Jaws were.
Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to separate his tastes in movies into those two separate, important camps: “movies” and “films.” In this case, the designation of a movie almost sounds like it’s shorthand for the blockbuster opuses that Steven Spielberg made a name for himself with. Which means that “films” are presumably more of the independent/art house titles that have higher pedigrees, and usually end up on the lists of best picture nominees every year.
Strangely enough, Jaws is one of six horror movies to have Best Picture nominations, so the line could blur just a bit in that respect. Putting aside the “movies” versus “films” debate, Quentin Tarantino isn’t using that separation to be a snob. Later on in the conversation, he explained how spectacles such as this are their own form of art, and how Steven Spielberg came to be someone who perfected it:
What I meant by that, to one degree or another, is that Spielberg and a lot of his cohorts grew up seeing those kinds of movies in the theater. Henry Levin’s Journey to Center of the Earth, he’s gonna run to go and see that. Richard Fleischer’s Fantastic Voyage. He’s going to run and go see it. Gordon Douglas’s Them! He’s going to run and go see. Now… most of them weren’t directed that well. They were assignments given to journeyman directors who did their best with them. That was how we were used to seeing comic book — that kind of movie experience. As opposed to a Spielberg, who was like, ‘No, this is exactly the kind of movie he likes. This is exactly the kind of movies he was put on earth to make. And he’s going to make it, within an inch of his life, as effective as it possibly can be. And, you know, Michael Anderson, isn’t putting that kind of work in Logan’s Run.
Spielberg, and “cohorts” like George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Copolla all latched onto genres that were pulpier entertainments in their childhood, only to make them into something new. Through films like Jaws, Star Wars, Taxi Driver, and The Godfather, we saw a generation of directors taking movies they loved and reviving them through their own personal lenses. Which is exactly what Quentin Tarantino would do when he stepped onto the scene with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction; and it’s also why he’s such a staunch supporter of the cinematic experience.
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If this conversation boils down to anything, it’s game recognizing game. Much as Steven Spielberg idolized the movies that helped make Jaws, Quentin Tarantino has reverence for the bearded director and his dedication to making the movies that sparked his love of cinema. Though considering the history his collaborator Samuel L. Jackson has had with sharks, you have to wonder if this has already sparked any sort of humorous conversations between the two?
You’ll be able to watch, and listen, to Quentin Tarantino’s latest appearance on ReelBlend, as it’s set to hit YouTube tomorrow. Meanwhile, Tarantino may not have his tenth and final film in the works just yet, but you can still enjoy the man’s gift for words in two very cool ways.
Tarantino’s Video Archives podcast, which he co-hosts with friend and collaborator Roger Avery, is currently streaming wherever you find fine listening material. However, if you also want to read the man’s thoughts on ‘70s filmmaking in his upcoming book Cinema Speculation, which you can currently preorder on Amazon (opens in new tab); or any other fine bookseller.
The stars of “Prey,” Amber Midthunder (“Naru”), Dakota Bevers (“Taabe”), Dane DiLiegro (“The Predator”), director Dan Trachtenberg and producer Jhane Myers discuss their new “Predator” movie in this interview with CinemaBlend at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. They discuss the “Prey” audition moment that landed Amber Midthunder her role and more!
When an actor is in an audition, a part of the challenge is not only giving an authentic performance, but making certain choices that one thinks will distinctly appeal to the filmmakers conducting the casting. But while logic dictates that the greatest amount of success would result from choices that line up with what a director already has in mind for a character, that’s evidently not what happened with Brandon Perea and Jordan Peele’s Nope. As it turns out, Perea had a totally different take on the role of Angel than what Peele initially had in mind writing the script – and it wowed Peele to the point that he re-wrote the role incorporating the actor’s take.
I learned about this cool behind-the-scenes story when I interviewed Brandon Perea during the Nope press day in Los Angeles. I asked the actor about how his character evolved from what was originally on the page to what we see in the finished cut, and he explained that Jordan Peele intended Angel (previously named Artie) to be more of an enthusiastic nerd before he came along. Said Perea,
The first thing that he wrote… And I just found this out yesterday, I didn’t really know the details of Angel because it was pretty simplified. It used to be named Artie, and he was just a kid that was clutch, something like that. And he worked at a retail store. So I just saw that, and then it just seemed like kid was kind of happy-go-lucky. And I found out he was very nerdy – like very like super nerdy in the sense of like ‘quirky nerdy,’ of like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m a tech whiz.’
In Nope, Brandon Perea’s Angel is a retail clerk at the Fry’s Electronics store in Burbank, California, and while he definitely knows his way around the equipment that he sells, he is certainly not passionate about the work. When Daniel Kaluuya’s OJ and Keke Palmer’s Emerald first meet him, hoping to purchase an advanced security camera system, he most definitely sees their presence as being more of a pain in the ass than any kind of call to adventure.
This was evidently the take on the character that Brandon Perea brought into his audition for Nope, and it’s because he felt it was the most authentic version of the personality. Obviously minimum wage clerks who love their job exist, but the global population of those individuals is dwarfed by the number of people who are counting down the minutes until they can clock out. Perea continued,
I just found that out yesterday, funny enough, but I just never saw it that way when I initially got the script – or the sides, actually. I just thought about it. I brought it to a real place. Jordan’s very good at keeping his films grounded and you just think those humans are alive on Earth. So usually when I walk into a retail store, no one wants to be there. No one is really happy to be there. They’re kind of just like, ‘Yep, what do you need? All right, cool. Scan that. Great. Alright, you need something else. Cool. Do it.’
While the majority of actors in the Nope audition probably played the character as Jordan Peele originally thought it should be played, Brandon Perea apparently surprised the writer/director with his take:
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I kind of just went into it with that intention, where I’m like, ‘This is kind of the feel that I get,’ and he thought that was so funny – this dude who’s over it. That made him laugh quite a bit. I’m so glad that I entered it with that, and I just wanted to attack it differently than I feel like others would.
It’s a win in all respects, as not only did Brandon Perea land the role of Angel Torres in Nope, but he is one of the many terrific highlights in the critically-acclaimed third film from Jordan Peele. To use Daniel Kaluuya’s words, it’s pretty special.
Nope – which features a stellar cast including Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, Steven Yeun, and Keith David, is now playing in theaters everywhere, and it had an excellent opening weekend at the box office. If you’ve already seen the film, you can dig into the mystery of the UFO with our Ending Explained feature.
To learn about all of the big films on the horizon, head over to our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.
