From the beginning, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies have been a personal project for James Gunn. The trilogy of films features some classic Marvel characters, but reinvents them for Gunn’s career-long theme about misfits finding their comfort zones and raising found families. With Gunn moving on to co-headline DC’s filming operation this summer Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a farewell to his iteration of those characters. But as one post-credits card teases, it may not mean the end of their stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What does that mean for James’ brother Sean? Sean Gunn starred in all three Guardians films as Kraglin, sidekick to former Ravager leader Yondu (Michael Rooker) and heir to Yondu’s Yaka arrow, the whistle-controlled weapon that pops up repeatedly in the trilogy. Sean is also the on-set actor for Rocket Raccoon, the CG character voiced by Bradley Cooper both in Gunn’s films and crossovers such as Thor: Love and Thunder and the Avengers movies.
Sean Gunn has been a TV and movie actor for over 25 years — he tells Polygon that his favorite role is in Gilmore Girls, as the quirky Stars Hollow resident Kirk Gleason, but he has also been heavily involved in his brother’s work, often taking on multiple roles in James’ projects. Would he want to continue if Rocket or Kraglin is now his brother away from Marvel?
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve been doing this, and the physical part of playing Rocket is something I know I’ll have to stop doing after this movie,” says Gunn. “It is hard on my feet and ankles. [Playing him] is really challenging, really difficult. And it’s gotten harder as I’ve gotten older. I was ready, I was happy I could do it, I’m lucky I could be there. But I would like to say goodbye to that.”
Image: Marvel Studios
Kraglin, on the other hand, would love to return in a later Marvel movie. “I certainly never close doors when it comes to things like that,” he says. “I love telling great stories, and if there’s a way to get into another great story, I’d definitely be open to it. Completing James’ incarnation of the Guardians is sad. But the Guardians are alive, and the idea of the Guardians – what they stand for, in terms of finding family anywhere, and standing up for the little guy, and ‘we’re all in this together’ – that idea lives on, and lives on strong, so there is always more.”
Polygon sat down with Sean after Sean’s debut Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to talk about his experiences on set as Rocket, where he wants to see Kraglin go from here, and most importantly, if he really can whistle as well as Kraglin, who finally comes into his own in this installment of the series.
[Ed. note: This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.]
Polygon: With Rocket being such a central presence in this movie and going through so much, did he play him significantly differently this time around?
Sean Gunn: So in the previous movies, what I do is — the technical term is motion reference. Which means they don’t put me in the suit with all the colored stripes and balls and things like that – I just wear a regular tracksuit. And the visual effects team watches my performance and animates Rocket based on what I’m doing. But that doesn’t happen digitally.
Because in this third movie we see young Rocket with other animals that are about the same size as him, we shot those things on miniature sets and did more traditional motion capture. So I had the motion capture suit on and was able to interact with Linda Cardellini [as Lylla the otter] and the other actors. When Rocket is in the cage, we’re really shooting all that stuff and fully digitally capturing those performances. So it was a little bit different from a technical point of view.
From a performance point of view, I prepared as I always prepare. This one might be a bit more emotional than the others, but that’s part of it.
Image: Marvel Studios
Otherwise, will James team up with you for an on-screen role and a motion reference role?
Not really. With every aspect of it there are subtle differences. So when I do motion reference for Rocket, I’m really just playing the part on set with the other actors. I’m there for them first and foremost, so when they look into Rocket’s face, they’re looking at a pair of reacting eyes, not a tennis ball on a stick or empty space. And then I’m there for the visual effects team, so they have a starting point for the animation — they know what Rocket is looking at, what his hands are doing, and where he’s moving in space along with these other characters. That stuff can always be changed in the post if needed. Sometimes not, but a lot.
The only difference in how James will work with me as an actor is that we know there’s more flexibility with Rocket because you can still tweak and tweak it as it progresses. The performance is just part of what we end up seeing on screen, whereas with Kraglin, or any other character that’s on screen, that’s most of it – once you’ve captured it, it’s there, you’re not going to overdo it adjust a lot. But again, in terms of preparation, I prepare for each role the way I do. I view them fairly evenly.
Do you recognize yourself more in one of these roles? Do you put yourself in different ways?
I definitely identify more with Kraglin, because it’s me – it’s my voice and my face. Every time you play a character on screen, there’s a part of you in it. So there’s a much bigger part of me in the final product of Kraglin, while in Rocket I feel a little bit more like a shepherd. I am a member of the relay team that creates the character. James starts with the baton and passes it to me, and then I pass it to the visual effects team, and then they pass it to Bradley Cooper, the anchor who puts it all together.
Is there anything you’d like to see Kraglin do in particular right now, in someone else’s Marvel movie?
We’ve seen Kraglin get his sea legs in terms of being able to contribute. I’m curious to see where that would go and how he might help with some of the other shenanigans going on across the galaxy and the Marvel Universe. But one of the things I love about being an actor is I don’t have to think about that part of the storytelling, I let the writers take over and then step in and do what I can. Luckily I don’t have to write the next one.
Honestly, but at the same time, there are so many great actors in the franchise right now. Is there someone you would really like to have a scene with?
Oh god, yes – that list is huge. I’m lucky that part of the work I’ve done as Rocket, doing motion capture in six movies, meant I got to be on set during the Avengers movies and work with all these phenomenal actors. There was nothing like being on set with them all. But there is always more. I’d love to do a scene with some people from Black Panther or Ant-Man. It would be the largest. So yes, put them on.
I have to ask: How are you doing with whistling? Could you really pilot a high-tech whistle dart?
[Laughs] I’m doing well. I do my best, and sometimes some of it works, but I need a little love from the audio effects team to really make it pop. But you know, I’m doing fine. I’m not ashamed. Although, you know, the funny thing is that Michael Rooker, who plays Yondu, believes all the whistling he does in the [Guardians] movies is 100% his own, and I have it on good authority that it isn’t. At least then I know where to get my help.