Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 Set Visit

A few months ago I was FINALLY able to share the secret that I’d been keeping about the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Last spring – about 9 months ago (I can’t believe it was THAT long ago already), I had the privilege of traveling with just 11 other bloggers to the set of the movie. It was an INCREDIBLE day, doing some super cool behind-the-scenes things. And now, I am THRILLED that I can finally share the experience with you!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 Set Visit Experience:

Interview with Producer, Jonathan Schwartz-

We started out our behind-the-scenes visit at MARVEL Studios with an interview with Producer, Jonathan Schwartz. This interview took place in a conference room with a full (amazing) art wall. And let me just say, there will be some stunning sci-fi imagery in this movie! Really, this is going to be quite the spectacle film! From the concept art and scene renderings, it looks like there is going to be an even larger diversity of styles of planets/colors/imagery/etc than the 1^st movie. And, Jonathan did say that color plays a very important role in that it really helps convey mood and helps dictate the whole feeling tone of the scenes. Jonathan also shared that he is really excited about the character development and evolution of the characters in this movie. But of course one of the biggest questions on a lot of minds is the music. The soundtrack from the first Guardians of the Galaxy was a HUGE hit. It was a big part of the movie. And, Jonathan shared with us that the thinks THIS soundtrack is “way better”. Ha! He wouldn’t give us any hints at all, but he did say that he thinks the music plays a much bigger role in terms of the plot and actual storyline in this one than the 1st movie. So, we’re REALLY excited to see how that all plays out!

Behind-the-Scenes Props Workshop & Interview with Property Master Russell Bobbitt

After our time with the Producer, we headed over to the props workshop area which was one of the COOLEST experiences ever!!! We met with Property Master Russell Bobbitt and I seriously could have listened to him talk all day! He’s worked on some BIG name movies, so he has super cool stories and you can tell he has an awesomely creative mind! He showed us around the whole props workshop space where we saw all kinds of props for the movie; he explained how different things were made and/or how they worked; and he even shared some things about the budget.

For example, he shared that the props budget on a movie like this – $1.3 million. WHOA!!!!!! But the cost of stuff adds up VERY quickly! For example, he shared that they paid a $1,000 a GALLON for a special kind of metallic paint. Oh my!! And then there was this blueish/teal carpet that HAD to be just the right color (because again, color is important in the movie). The bill just for the carpet was close to $20,000!!! That’s a cost of $180/foot! WHOA! Stuff adds up even more quickly in a movie like this because as he shared, this movie is in outer space. So, almost all the props have to be created. You can’t just use regular, everyday “Earth weapons” for example. So, there is A LOT of creativity that goes into creating the various props in the movie!
They have created SO many weapons! And then there are multiple iterations of the same props. One example he shared was Drax’s weapon – for close up shots, it’s all real metal. And it’s HEAVY! SOoooo heavy! The actors can’t carry that around for hours on set. So, there are also rubber versions of the same weapon. The same is true of other props there. After talking, he let us try out some of the “Quad Blasters” and “Laser Canons”. How fun is this?!?! Even some of the the rubber versions we were holding got fairly heavy because these things were HUGE! Crazy!That all was super cool, but then everyone went NUTS when we got to see a Rocket Raccoon and Baby Groot prop! Baby Groot here is really just silicone with posable wires inside. But, OMG, he’s incredibly adorable! I’m thinking that the merchandising that is going to happen with this character is crazy! And for sure, Baby Groot is going to absolutely STEAL whatever scenes he is in!!!! We even got to take a picture! 🙂
Isn’t that SO fun?! Love it!

Inside the Costuming Trailer…

Sadly, our time in the props workshop had to come to an end. So, then we headed over to the the costume trailer for all of the main cast (which seemed surprisingly small to me, but was very efficiently organized). I wish I could show you pictures from this part, but sadly no. Just like with the props though, there are multiple iterations of the same costumes for different needs (for action scenes, wire rigs, etc). And there is LOTS of leather work in many of the costumes! In fact, some of the costumes had some incredibly intricate detailing. We also got to hold Chris Pratt’s red leather duster jacket. And that sucker is HEAVY! Chris estimates than when wet, the jacket weighs about 50 pounds! Whoa!  

So much cool stuff! After that, we had some lunch, INTERVIEWED the main cast in costume!!!!, AND got to watch them film a scene!!! Ahhhhhh!!! SOoooo cool! So be sure to stay tuned to the blog this week as we’ll be sharing details from those interviews and the scene shoot throughout the week!

And, be sure to mark your calendars for May 5th, 2017 when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters. Because, obviously! 😉