Hot on the heels of Comic-Con, Marvel Studios has announced that the Phase 2 epic “Guardians of the Galaxy” has started shooting at the UK”s Shepperton Studios.
The film confirmed its eclectic cast and revealed some early footage and some new concept art at the Con this past weekend, where writer-director James Gunn and stars including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Benicio del Toro and other made appearances to talk up the project.
While the plot itself is still largely unknown, the interstellar “Guardians” will bring a space fantasy edge to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will feature Oscar winner del Toro (“Traffic”) as The Collector, one of the film’s primary villains.
“Parks and Recreation” star Pratt plays the Guardians’ leader Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord), with “Avatar’s” Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Lee Pace (“The Hobbit”) as Ronan the Accuser, Michael Rooker (“The Walking Dead”) as Yondu, Karen Gillan (“Doctor Who”) as Nebula, John C. Reilly as Rhomann Dey, Djimon Hounsou (“Gladiator”) as Korath, and six-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close as Nova Prime
“Guardians” is one of the highly-anticpated films in Marvel’s Phase Two, which kicked off with this year’s “Iron Man 3” and will also include 2015’s “The Avengers 2.” Meanwhile, “Thor: The Dark World” also recently shot some footage at Shepperton, while “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is soon wrapping production in L.A.