So we already know that Chris Pratt will be taking on one of the live-action human characters in Guardians of the Galaxy, playing team leader Star-Lord after a lengthy casting search. But the quirky team of galactic warriors also includes a talking raccoon, Rocket Raccoon to be exact, and a sentient tree creature named Groot. One of the big questions has been how Marvel plans on animating them both.
My speculation has been that both would be totally CG creations, and that's not completely off the mark. While talking to CinemaBlend (via Bleeding Cool), Marvel's visual effects wiz Victoria Alonso revealed that a combination of approaches will be required...
Alonso: "We’re going to do a combination. You can’t do any motion capture with a raccoon – they won’t let you put the suit on [laughs]. But we will do rotomation, probably, for some of the behavior. Rocket will have his own personality, of course, and clearly we can’t do mocap on a tree, per say, but we definitely will have performers to emulate what James Gunn will lead to be the behavior and the performance. He’s very clear on where he wants to take the characters"
If you've seen Richard Linklater's Waking Life, then you know what rotoscoping looks like, and this is basically a form of animation using that technique, likely involving some form of live performance. I doubt it'll look exactly like what Linklater did, though. As for Groot, it sounds like some form of performance capture will be involved. Maybe they can get Andy Serkis? Eh, probably not.
We're still waiting to find out who will do the voice acting on both characters, but we've heard the names Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler rumored. They'd certainly add to the offbeat tone, that's for sure. I've always envisioned Rocket Raccoon with the voice of a 1940s-era gangster. Not sure why. Maybe it's the giant gun he carries around?
Guardians of the Galaxy lands in theaters on August 1st 2014.
