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00:00 Um, so first off, I wanted to ask, the High Evolutionary is such an interesting
00:04 villain to be in the MCU.
00:06 First of all, because most villains in the MCU, you kind of, at some point, not
00:10 that you necessarily sympathize with them, but you can kind of see, okay, I
00:13 understand where he's coming from or understand his perspective.
00:15 But with the High Evolutionary, you just realize that he's this person
00:18 immediately from the jump.
00:20 And we kind of understand like how, how deadly he is, how ruthless he is,
00:24 um, what his mindset is.
00:26 So what was it like playing a villain like this within the MCU at which you
00:29 understand immediately the threat that they pose?
00:33 I had such a great time.
00:35 Like it was wonderful.
00:37 Wherever my remit was, this guy's a villain, you know, and we need you to
00:43 ground him, but he is a villain.
00:44 We're not looking for a sort of redeeming arc during the course of the film.
00:49 We're here to show someone who's single-minded and, and extremely
00:54 dangerous and extremely powerful.
00:56 So when I knew that, when I read that, and so that was the deal, I sort of
01:01 relished every moment of it and, and felt that this was a character that I could
01:06 build out of my sort of like closet of skill sets from my work in the theater
01:13 and stuff, the stuff that resonated about him.
01:15 And I wasn't in any way worried about going too far with him because I knew
01:20 A, James would pull me back if I went too far, but also because he is an extreme
01:24 character, you know, and, um, again, for such a complex sort of psychology
01:31 mixture, cocktail of narcissism and sociopathy and intelligence and, and,
01:37 and, uh, damage, he actually just has a very single-minded, uh, motivation.
01:44 Right.
01:44 So that, that was really great to have that motivation driving you through.
01:48 And these aspects of his character to sort of like color how I delivered,
01:53 um, certain scenes, you know?
01:55 Yeah.
01:56 Yeah.
01:56 I could definitely tell that the theatrical influence was that the
01:59 theater influence was there in certain aspects of the character.
02:01 Yeah.
02:01 Like it was, it was given a lot of theater.
02:03 So I saw that for sure, for sure.
02:04 And what was it like reteaming with James Gunn on this project after, you
02:09 know, of course being a part of Peacemaker, what was it like working with him once
02:13 again, um, in two projects that are like very, very different from each other?
02:17 I mean, first of all, the level of gratitude I felt, I can't tell you.
02:22 Um, it was, it was, it felt like a continuation of the work, like we weren't
02:27 done with each other after Peacemaker.
02:29 So I was very grateful that he decided that he could bring me over to this.
02:32 And like you say, two very different characters, two very different worlds,
02:36 two very different projects, but the same James Gunn, you know, the same
02:40 prepared guy who does all his storyboarding, who knows the story, who's
02:44 lived this character, the same guy who wants to surround himself with talented
02:48 people, but good people who runs the set, um, as a very open, um, focused,
02:55 but very fun environment, you know?
02:57 So it was more of the same, just on a bigger scale.
03:00 It's like, you know, in the office, most of my scenes in, in, in Peacemaker
03:04 were in that little, little office and stuff like that, you know, very domestic.
03:08 And in this one, when I looked out, I saw the cosmos, you know, it
03:12 was a very different, um, setting.
03:14 Yeah.
03:15 Yes.
03:17 Well, thank you so, so much for your time.
03:18 I really enjoyed this conversation.
03:20 I can't wait for more people to see this film.
03:21 Thank you so much and take care of yourself.
03:23 First things first, I want to ask over the course of these three films, how
03:29 best do you think Star-Lord, Peter, his journey kind of culminates in this
03:35 volume three and especially considering the fact that, you know, Guards of the
03:39 Galaxy were characters that not a lot of people really even knew about, um, at
03:43 least deeply within the first film and now through, you know, volume three,
03:47 they're fan favorites.
03:48 So how do you think like the trajectory of, you know, the general public, you
03:51 know, coming to love these characters kind of coincides with, you know, Peter's
03:55 journey throughout these three films?
03:56 Wow.
03:58 Well, it's a complete arc.
04:00 I, I feel the first film we got to know about, we get to meet this, these
04:06 characters and meet Quill and he was really lost himself, but thought he knew
04:13 who he was.
04:13 He'd created a fake version of his favorite superhero and wanted to become
04:17 that guy, Star-Lord, and it was based on these pop icons from the eighties and
04:22 he was very immature and selfish.
04:25 And then he meets this band of misfits and decides through the course of it,
04:30 that to live for something a little bit bigger than himself.
04:32 So there's growth there.
04:33 And then in the second film, he's almost willing to abandon that, to, to go on
04:38 this quest to find out who he is in terms of his, his paternal root with his
04:41 father, Ego, the living planet.
04:43 And now thought, now maybe that will tell him who he is.
04:46 And he has, and he has to come back to realize, no, this friends, these family,
04:50 that's who he is.
04:51 And now finally, in this one, because of the events of Infinity War and Endgame,
04:58 the love of his life is gone and he's again lost.
05:03 And I think rather, well, without giving, I don't want to give away a spoiler, but
05:08 he needs to find himself again.
05:09 And, and he does so in a way that feels very final to the Guardians of the
05:15 Galaxy trilogy.
05:16 Yes.
05:17 Yes.
05:17 And speaking of these events that happened in Infinity War and Endgame and the
05:22 love of his life, I know a lot of fans are probably anticipating the dynamic
05:26 that's going to be between Quill and Gamora in this film, considering everything
05:32 that's happened so far.
05:33 How do you think fans may be surprised about, without giving anything away,
05:38 surprised about their dynamic in this film and, you know, how, where things
05:43 ultimately may end between them?
05:46 Like, you know, whether that's good or bad, happy or sad.
05:49 What's the dynamic like between these two in the film?
05:51 Well, I can, I don't want to speak to expectations being met or, or, or exceeded
05:57 or not met in regards to the relationship and where it ends up, because it gets
06:01 into spoiler territory.
06:03 But I will say that the dynamic is really complicated and beautiful and painful.
06:13 Gamora is back, but it's not the same Gamora and she has never lived through
06:18 the same life experiences that the previous Gamora had.
06:21 So Quill has lost Gamora and in that way is lost himself.
06:27 And when she's back in, in with the guardians, because of the story, it
06:34 helps, you know, she becomes an outlier and, and spends time with the guardians.
06:39 He is destined to want to remind her who she was and what it meant for her to be a
06:48 guardian of the galaxy and that the community she had found and the love that
06:52 she had found and how that love had saved her life.
06:55 And she just doesn't have that shared experience anymore.
06:59 So it's really painful.
07:00 And so the, the dynamic is one that's heartbreaking and gut-wrenching
07:05 and really beautiful.
07:08 And unlike anything I've ever seen before in film, usually when a person
07:11 loses another person in a film, the journey is about getting over them, moving on.
07:15 And it's really hard for Quill to move on when the love of his life is essentially
07:21 standing right in front of him.
07:22 Yes.
07:23 Yes, for sure.
07:24 Well, thank you so, so much for chatting with me.
07:26 I really enjoyed the conversation.
07:27 I can't wait for my future to film.
07:28 All right.
07:29 Sounds good.