With its Summer 2014 release date putting it directly before The Avengers 2 in Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy has so much anticipation surrounding it, for so many reasons.
The film is the first and only original film in Phase Two, following Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Chris Pratt was the first to come on board in the role of Peter Quill / Star-Lord back in February. And he was soon followed by Dave Bautista, joining the cast as Drax the Destroyer.
Now THR report that Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) is in talks for Guardians of the Galaxy. If all goes well, then she’ll be taking the female lead, Gamora, a green-skinned humanoid who is the last of her species, which was destroyed by the Badoon.
The anticipated blockbuster is expected to begin production later this year, and the cast is clearly shaping up nicely. Gunn and the studio are going for rising talents, and that’s always nice to see with a franchise-starter (within a franchise) like Guardians.
Of the Guardians themselves, we still have the casting of Rocket Racoon and Groot (a giant tree) to look forward to. Early reports suggested that the studio might have been courting the likes of Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler for unknown roles, with speculation pointing to Groot and Rocket Racoon as likely candidates.
Gunn will be directing from a script by Nicole Perlman and Chris McCoy, with Gunn also thought to have had a hand in the script after coming on board.
Most recently seen opposite Bradley Cooper in The Words, Saldana will soon be reprising her role from Star Trek in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, which arrives next month. She’s also completed Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furance, co-starring Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Willem Dafoe, and Forest Whitaker. And adding Guardians of the Galaxy would definitely be another awesome project to her already-impressive upcoming slate.
She’s also set to reprise her role in Peter Jackson’s Avatar 2, and we can only hope that her contracts with Jackson’s proposed sequels and Marvel’s tendency to lock down their actors for multiple films wouldn’t conflict.
Guardians of the Galaxy is set to be released on 1st August, 2014, and we can’t wait for it to hit. Here’s to hoping that talks between Saldana and the studio go well, and that she’ll officially come on board soon. More as we get it.
