The visual effects production supervisor on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Stephane Ceretti, has explained how the character of Rocket is an amalgamation of multiple different people’s ideas and performances.
Who is Rocket an amalgamation of in GOTG?
When asked by ComingSoon about getting so much emotion across these animated animal characters’ faces, Ceretti explained that Rocket’s performance and character come from numerous people, including Sean Gunn, James Gunn, and Bradley Cooper.
“We owe that to Sean Gunn, who actually does Rocket on set for us,” Ceretti said. “He’s been doing Rocket on set with all these actors since the first film. So in terms of the banter between them and how they act, they know, they worked with him and they’re just real actors. Just looking at Sean thinking they know what it’s going to look like because they’ve done a few movies with him, so they know that they can trust the process that it’s going to work. [Laughs]. They’re all so good with each other, and James is so good at directing them and giving them the right cues. James’ script is very, very specific and they stick to the script, but sometimes James has an idea during the take and throws it at them and they go with it and it’s hilarious.
“It’s a good group of people. They know to work with them. When we have this as a reference for us, it’s just gold. Then we we have Bradley [Cooper] coming to record later in post to do Rocket’s voice. And Bradley gives us another level of acting, you know? He looks at the scene, how it’s edited, and he’s like, ‘Oh, but I could do this, I could do that,’ and brings another level of ideas, and we capitalize on that and we push it even further. Rocket is an amalgamation of so many people, but at the same time, it’s that very specific character. James is the guardian of that. He knows what the character needs to do and needs to be and needs to say. Everybody’s trying to put a little bit of them in there and James is curating everything, but it’s always been a great experience, honestly.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was once again written and directed by James Gunn. MCU vets Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel returned to reprise their respective roles as Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Kraglin, Nebula, Mantis, Rocket, and Groot, while Maria Bakalova returned as Cosmo the Spacedog. The sequel also featured the introduction of franchise newcomers Will Poulter and Chukwudi Iwuji, who portray the roles of Adam Warlock and High Evolutionary.
