Sean Gunn Talks ‘Tough’ Heartache Of ‘Guardians Vol. 3’ & His Nazi-Busting Robot In ‘Creature Commandos’

July 20, 2018. Disney severs ties with writer-director James Gunn over a number of tweets, placing the third Guardians of the Galaxy film (then slated for a 2020 release) in serious doubt. Now a free agent, Gunn moves his talents over to Warner Bros., which green-lights his take on Task Force X (2021’s The Suicide Squad).

Less than a year after his firing by the Mouse House, Gunn finds himself reinstated as director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is ultimately pushed down the Marvel Studios calendar to May 2023 as a result of Gunn’s growing DC duties and the production obstacles posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

To say these last five years have been a rollercoaster for the filmmaker would be something of an understatement, and it’s those closest to him — like James’s little brother, actor Sean Gunn, for instance — who are ecstatic to see him close out his MCU saga in style before soaring to new Hollywood heights as head of DC Studios.

“Audiences seem to like Guardians [Vol. 3]. I’m proud of it,” Sean tells me over Zoom. “It’s probably my favorite thing that I’ve done in my career and I’m pretty relieved that it’s out there in the world. It feels like something I’ve been waiting for for so so long.”

***WARNING! The following contains major plot spoilers for all of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!!!***

A regular fixture of his brother’s big screen projects, Sean has been privvy to the full endgame of a trilogy known for its memorably flawed characters and perfectly-curated needle drops for almost a decade.

“Rocket’s whole backstory I knew from when we were shooting the first movie,” he says, adding that “very little” of the Vol. 3 screenplay was tweaked before filming, despite the fact that the movie ended up in Phase Five rather than in the immediate aftermath of Infinity War and Endgame. “James is pretty solid and doesn’t tweak a whole lot of stuff. So the things that could stay the same mostly did.”

Sean returns to the role of Kraglin Obfonteri, loyal Ravager deputy who officially joined the titular team at the end of Vol. 2 following the death of Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker). “At the end of the day, I think Kraglin is truly a Guardian because he also has this sort of fractured past and this sense of finding his family within the Guardians that he never really had,” the actor says.

With Yondu no longer in the picture, Kraglin takes possession of the cranial fin that allows him to psychically control the deadly Yaka Arrow by whistling. The appliance was completely practical and Sean decided to fully shave his head in order to cut down the application process (about an hour and forty-five minutes).

“I like having it on, though sometimes I forget about it and bump it on things,” he confesses. “I’m always worried I’m gonna knock it off, although that never happened. It’s up there very tight. From a character standpoint, it’s great having it. It’s great being able to see myself and to feel that it’s there and know that it’s there. It’s really quite a change from playing the character in the first two movies.”

When not traversing the cosmos, Kraglin remains at Knowhere (the Guardians’ HQ located inside the hollow head of a dead Celestial), holding down the fort — and sharing a delightful rivalry — with Soviet-era canine astronaut, Cosmo (voiced by Maria Bakalova).

“I love every part of that and I think there’s something really sweet about their relationship because there’s a hint of the kind of relationship a pet and a pet’s caretaker would have, but it’s so much more than that,” Sean explains. “They’re also friends, and maybe even frenemies, because Kraglin’s a little hurt that Cosmo hurt his feelings and so, he hurts her back. It’s a lot of fun.”

Just like he did on the first two volumes — as well as on the last two Avengers films and Thor: Love and Thunder — Sean also provided the on-set performance for Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper in the final mix) to provide a point of reference for the visual effects team in post-production.

The trilogy capper is very much the Rocket Show, delving into his tragic past as one of several mad science experiments created by the cruel High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). These flashbacks explain the reason why Rocket hides behind a tough exterior and lashes out at anyone who shows him even the slightest bit of disdain.

“This third movie was unique because usually when I play Rocket, I’m crouching or squatting. But for all of the young Rocket scenes, I’m the same height as the other characters, so we actually shot that more traditional motion-capture,” Sean adds. “I’m actually wearing the suit and all that stuff and able to perform those scenes with Linda Cardellini, Mikaela [Hoover], and Asim Chaudhry who play Lylla, Teefs, and Floor. We were able to do all of that together, which was interesting.”

And speaking of Lylla, Teefs, and Floor, Sean says he could barely hold it together while filming the moment where a flatlining Rocket sees his friends again.

“It was very emotional for me because I feel so close to that character and I know his journey so well. I know that James sees Rocket as the centerpiece of the Guardians movies and that’s in some ways what the third movie is about. I also think that Rocket is the character that James personally identifies with the most. And so, there’s just a lot going on there and then when you add in the fact that this is the last movie for a lot of the parties and we’re doing this final go-around…there were so many things involved. I’ve never gotten that emotional doing anything as an actor as I did in that scene. So yeah, I’m doing some crying and wailing and things like that. It was tough.”

The salty droplets of eye water continue to flow in the movie’s final moments when the inhabitants of Knowhere celebrate the defeat of the High Evolutionary with a dance party, jamming out to the poignant tones of “The Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine. The finale is so powerful, in fact, that it reduced Florence Welch herself to tears.

“When you see Rocket and Groot dancing, that’s me and James dancing,” Sean reveals. “There’s this wonderful behind-the-scenes clip that he’ll probably release that to the world someday and let them see it, where I’m doing Rocket and James is doing Groot (because James always does Groot when he’s dancing). [When] he and I are dancing together with that whole crowd of the citizens of Knowhere around us, I will never forget that. That was one of the weirdest and coolest things I’ve ever done in my career.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ends with the current iteration of the titular team disbanding. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) names Rocket captain and the battery-stealing trash panda stays on the roster alongside Groot (Vin Diesel), Kraglin, Cosmo, and three newcomers: Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Phyla (Kai Zen), and the adorable Blurp. While the second end credits scene assure audiences that Pratt’s “legendary Star-Lord will return,” there’s no mention of the Guardians.

“I really have no idea where that can go,” Sean admits. “You never close any doors in your career. One thing I’ve learned in Hollywood is that anytime I think things are gonna go in a certain direction, they’re probably gonna end up going in the other direction. So I don’t know what’s in store for another incarnation of the Guardians, but I’m certainly open to whatever is out there.”

As he waits for Marvel Studios to decide where the ragtag collection of galactic do-gooders go from here, Gunn has a hot date with the rebooted DC Universe — currently overseen by his brother and veteran producer Peter Safran — on the verge of kicking off a fresh epoch of comic book-inspired entertainment under the umbrella of “Gods and Monsters” (essentially Phase One of the new regime once The Flash effectively resets the existing continuity next month).

One of the projects already in active production is the animated Creature Commandos series on Max (formerly known as HBO Max), for which Sean will reprise the role of Weasel (last seen storming the beaches of Corto Maltese in The Suicide Squad).

James wrote all seven episodes for the Suicide Squad meets Monster Squad title, which has begun to record dialogue with an all-star voice cast of Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Steve Agee (John Economos), David Harbour (Eric Frankenstein), Indira Varma (the Bride), Zoe Chao (Nina Mazursky), Maria Bakalova (Ilana Rostovik), and Alan Tudyk (Doctor Phosphorus).

“I love the scripts. They’re so, so good,” Sean says, promising a deep dive into the backstory of the lovable (but really not-so-lovable) Weasel, who was rightly imprisoned at Belle Reve for the rather heinous crime of murdering 27 children. “We’ll see he’s got a very unusual history that we’re gonna dig into a little bit.”

He’ll also be lending his pipes to the character of G.I. Robot, “who I’m particularly fond of because G.I. Robot basically has one sole purpose as an automaton and that is to kill Nazis,” the actor continues. “I myself hate Nazis…who doesn’t? So I’m excited for the world to meet G.I. Robot.”

Beyond Creature Commandos, the “Gods and Monsters” slate also includes film and television adventures for Superman, Batman, Swamp-Thing, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Booster Gold, The Authority, and Green Lantern. Despite being related to one of the top executives pulling the strings of such a massive operation, Sean confesses that he only gets bits and pieces out of his brother whenever they find the time to hang out. And whatever James does end up divulging is, of course, beholden to the strictest code of sibling secrecy (and probably a binding NDA or two).

“It’s not like he’s bouncing things off me. It’s more like we get together every few months and we’re hanging out late at night and he’ll start chatting and telling me what’s going on. So I look forward to the next one of those. I know I’m gonna be spending some time with him at the end of the month and maybe he’ll fill me in on some good dirt that I won’t be able to share with anyone else for years.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters everywhere.