The speculation has been abuzz for weeks about what Vin Diesel was meeting with Marvel about earlier this summer, and all signs had pointed to his involvement with Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. But now the cat is out of the bag, and it turns out that it’s actually the preceding film in Phase Two that he’s in talks to join, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Diesel took to Facebook once more last night to post an image of Groot, the tree-like intelligent creature from the Marvel comics, without any further comment. And word then came via Deadline that he does indeed appear to be in talks to board Guardians of the Galaxy.
The stellar cast is led by Chris Pratt, who takes the role of Star-Lord / Peter Quill, the leader of the Guardians. He’s joined by Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio del Toro, John C. Reilly, Ophelia Lovibond, and Glenn Close.
With Diesel now in talks to join the project as Groot, that only leaves the voice of Rocket Raccoon still to be cast of the main Guardians of the Galaxy.
It’s previously been reported that the two roles of Groot and Rocket Raccoon would be shot using a mixture of CGI and motion capture. It will be interesting to see if that does indeed still stand for Groot, given that filming is already underway on Gunn’s blockbuster, whilst Diesel is currently in pre-production for Fast and Furious 7, which is set to shoot at the end of the summer.
Gunn is directing from a script first written by Nicole Perlman and Chris McCoy, with Gunn himself doing a rewrite, before a final polish from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
Guardians of the Galaxy is set to land in cinemas in 3D on August 1st, 2014, and will be the penultimate film in Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe following Captain America: The Winter Soldier and arriving before Avengers: Age of Ultron.
