GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY opens in theaters everywhere on August 1st! I’m so excited!!

Here are some fun facts about the movie and check out the trailer at the bottom!

Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969) and was created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan. The modern Guardians team is the second to be featured under the name, and first appeared in “Guardians of the Galaxy, (Vol. 2) Issue #1 (May 2008). Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning created the new team, whose initial Guardians were Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Quasar, Adam Warlock, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer and Groot.
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Finding the perfect cassette player to use in the film was a challenge that fell to prop master Barry Gibbs. Despite searching all over the Internet for four months, Gibbs’ team was able to find only 16 cassette players in various states of repair that were suitable to use in the film.

 Production designer Charles Wood and his team designed and built several large-scale sets for Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the Kyln, the space prison where the Guardians meet, was the largest build of all. A 360-degree set, the Kyln was a feat of engineering, comprising 350-thousand pounds of steel across three levels, extended in post-production by a further two-hundred feet.
The production design team also crafted the Dark Aster, the villain Ronan’s spaceship. Suggestive of a flying mausoleum, the design is minimal and brutal. It is a stark, gray, colorless world devoid of any set dressing whatsoever that relies purely on its heavy concrete-like architecture to convey its tone and function.
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Former WWE champ Dave Bautista plays Drax the Destroyer. Drax’s life story is told by his full body tattoos/scarification, a prosthetics make-up process that saw Bautista endure a 4-hour daily session in the chair, or rather on foot, as he could not sit during the process. It took a team of five makeup artists to complete Bautista’s makeup application, which consisted of 18 pieces for the body and face. By the end of shoot, Dave Bautista had totaled about seven entire days in make-up.
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Over the course of shooting the film, the special make-up effects department had done approximately 1,250 prosthetic make-up applications. There were 50 makeup artists in all, working in teams on each character.
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There are many alien extras in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” requiring 2,000 humanoid alien molds to be run, with all the pieces pre-colored to each race —yellow, blue or pink.
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David White, special effects makeup designer, was charged with making 3D life-sized versions of Rocket and a bust of Groot, which were used on set not only to give the filmmakers references for visual effects and lighting, but also to see how the characters could actually function.

Creation of the orb featured in the film was a job for prop master Barry Gibbs and his team. They sculpted the exterior shell in aluminum and had a jeweler etch and pierce it before sending the beautiful piece off to be silver-plated.
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Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, hair/makeup designer, had her hands full developing makeup for all the different races of aliens, whose skin color varied according to their race. Coming up with a product that would not ruin the costumes, but would last through water and dirt, was a challenge. After many trial and error tests, her team was successful in developing a spray-on makeup that worked on everyone.
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Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

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I am so excited that this is out today. I am hooked on all the Marvel moves and the new TV series,  Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I only wish I could go today. But we are headed to Disney on Ice. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow so maybe it will a good time to go.

Here a trailer for the movie.

And some fun facts!

* The Winter Soldier character, played by Sebastian Stan in the film, was created for Marvel comics by Ed Brubaker in 2005. Though the character of Bucky Barnes existed previously in the Captain America comic books, he was killed off in WWII and not resurrected until Brubaker brought him back as the Winter Soldier.
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* For the scenes in the film that took place on the ship Lumerian Star, the filmmakers used the Sea Launch Commander, docked in Long Beach, Calif. Although there were space challenges involved to choreograph complex fight sequences in the tight spaces of a real ship, the filmmakers were happy to be able to further ground the film in reality by using an existing vessel.
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* In Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” fans will get to see multiples of the 2.0 version of the helicarrier as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters based in a building called the Triskelion in Washington, D.C. The Triskelion is a newly designed design, state-of- the-art facility that fits seamlessly into the backdrop of Washington.
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* Chris Evans truly had mixed martial arts training for Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” as the fighting techniques he employed in the film were a mixture of Parkour, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, karate and boxing. The filmmakers believed that bringing Steve Rogers into the modern day also meant that he had studied and mastered modern fighting styles and techniques.
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* With an acrobatic approach to fighting being featured in the film, Chris Evans willingly engaged in gymnastics training. That training had a big payoff for Evans when it came time to shoot fight sequences like the Elevator Fight.
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* The Elevator Fight was the first fight sequence shot for the film. It featured Brock Rumlow and ten guys in a crowded elevator with Captain America. The challenge was how much choreography could the filmmakers squeeze into a very small space. Realizing that Steve Rogers would have to be on the defensive, the stunt coordinators let Chris Evans use his hands and feet in close quarters until he gets a bit more room to use his fighting techniques and do some serious damage

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

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