Principal photography is inching ever closer for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and that has meant that we’ve had some terrific casting news for the penultimate film in Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in recent weeks.
Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan was the latest to come on board, taking the role of the lead female villain in the upcoming blockbuster.
And now Deadline report that Benicio del Toro has joined Guardians of the Galaxy in as as-yet-unknown role. We do know that he’s signed on for a character designed to be part of future films in the franchise, meaning he’s contract-bound for more films in the future, like so many in recent years since Robert Downey, Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson boarded the franchise with Iron Man.
With that in mind, it’s naturally an interesting possibility to consider that he might either be one of the Guardians themselves, or a villain that could span across more than one film. I’m inclined to think that the former is the more likely of the two, but the latter is of course very interesting to contemplate.
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista are currently the only three slated for starring as the titular heroes, with Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Karen Gillan completing the cast in a variety of roles.
Gunn is set to direct from a script first penned by Nicole Perlman and Chris McCoy, with Gunn himself doing a rewrite after coming on board, and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely most recently polishing the script.
Del Toro was last seen in Oliver Stone’s Savages, and takes the lead later this year in Jimmy P., the Arnaud Desplechin drama that debuted at Cannes last month. He’s already lined up the Pablo Escobar drama, Paradise Lost, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s anticipated adaptation of Inherent Vice for next year. And now adding this to his upcoming slate for 2014 makes things that much more awesome for fans of his work.
Guardians of the Galaxy is set to be released on August 1st, 2014, falling directly in between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers 2 in Phase Two. Needless to say, we cannot wait for its arrival.
