James Gunn reveals the 'talking raccoon' changed his life; recalls the deep meaning behind 'I am Groot'

Time of India

3 days ago

James Gunn
, the 'Superman' director, opened up about how the talking raccoon from 'Guardians of the Galaxy' changed his entire trajectory of being involved in a superhero film. An unprecedented call, a flop film, lost hope, and a fictional character turned Gunn's life only for the better.
Talking raccoon turned James Gunn's life...
In an interview with GQ, Gunn revealed that he had been a fan of Marvel and DC comic books as well as films for a long time. However, he had delivered a failed box office film at the time and was going to quit filmmaking when he received a call from Marvel Studios. While he had his initial doubts about the idea, which sounded like 'Bugs Bunny in the middle of Avengers.'
After thinking about the talking raccoon, James recalled the moment when he thought: What if it was real? 'It came to me that if [Rocket Raccoon] was real, that Raccoon would be the saddest creature in the entire universe, that to me…was the beginning of Guardians,' he said.
'That's why I knew that, from doing the first one to the last one, where it ended up, is where it needed to end up with this character basically having a spiritual awakening in which he goes outside of himself and sees himself in both a more important and less important way,' James said, before adding, 'That was the journey of those three movies for me. It was about Rocket, whose character who I've felt closer to more than any other character I've ever put on film, without a doubt.
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The story behind "I am Groot"
Furthermore, James Gunn talked about the iconic line 'I am Groot,' and the character that could project his feelings with just three words. He mentioned that in the comics, Groot says the three words because of a strange thing, but in his version, it was special, as only the raccoon could understand it initially. As the story went on, the people close to him could understand the feelings, and by the end of it, it was portrayed where the audience as well understood, where Vin Diesel spoke more than the three words.