James Gunn has hired Tyler Bates (300, Watchmen) to score Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn made the announcement on Facebook writing:
Grateful to be working with my favorite composer, Tyler Bates, on Guardians of the Galaxy. Unlike most films, Tyler writes huge chunks of the score first so that I can actually film to the music. During action scenes and huge dramatic moments we blare the score on set so that the cast, crew, and camera can move in harmony with the music. Music is often an afterthought in film, but never for us. And everything Tyler’s done so far has been amazing!
Personally I like a lot of Bates’ work even if the films he often ends up scoring aren’t necessarily all that impressive.
On the rumor side of things for Guardians, Latino Review reports Bradley Cooper has been “offered” the role of voicing Rocket Raccoon. Note this is a report of an offer, not a deal. Oh, and yes, he would be voicing a raccoon, but since Vin Diesel is voicing a tree in the very same film. I think Cooper is getting the better deal.
In other Marvel news, Joss Whedon talked about the new origins of his main villain in The Avengers: Age of Ultron (aka The Avengers 2) telling EW:
“As a character, I love [Ultron] because he’s so pissed off. I knew right away what I wanted to do with him. He’s always trying to destroy the Avengers, goddamnit, he’s got a bee in his bonnet. He’s not a happy guy, which means he’s an interesting guy. He’s got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff. So we’ll take away some of those powers because at some point everybody becomes magic, and I already have someone [a new character, Scarlet Witch] who’s a witch.”
If you’ll remember, yesterday it was rumored Elizabeth Olsen may take on the role of the Scarlet Witch after Saoirse Ronan reportedly passed on the role.
Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters August 1, 2014 while Avengers 2 arrives May 1, 2015 with production expected to begin in February.
