I am Groot. With one notable exception, those are the only three words Vin Diesel has to say while playing Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. This is a talking tree of few words, but as comic book readers know, those words carry a lot of weight under the surface. Well, for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it turns out that the sublime meanings to his three-word phrases are actually written out, as Diesel received a special script where all of Groot's actual dialogue is written out in English.
Director James Gunn tweeted out this photo of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 script, but unlike the other copies, this is the "Groot version," where all the "I am Groots" are replaced with actual English dialogue. Only Gunn and Vin Diesel get to see this script, so the other cast members truly have no idea what the sentient tree is actually saying when he utters his catchphrase. It's unclear whether a special Groot script was also written for the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but regardless, at least Diesel gets to see what Groot is really communicating to those around him so he knows what tones and intonations to use.
Although it hasn't been addressed in the movies, Groot is a member of the alien species known as Flora colossus, all of whom communicate using those same three words: "I am Groot." However, much like Chewbacca's growling in the Star Wars movies, those words mask what is supposed to be concise and elaborate dialogue, just like a human would say. The only one who's able to understand Groot is his buddy Rocket, and who knows how long it took him the peculiarities of that language. Jokes aside, it's great learning that James Gunn took the time to write out meaningful dialogue for Groot, rather than jus those infamous three words across the screenplay. One can only hope that many years from now, Gunn will release that version of script to the public so we can finally learn what Groot is really saying in those scenes.
The last time moviegoers saw Groot, he was regrowing as Baby Groot after sacrificing himself to save his teammates. When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 kicks off, he'll have grown a little bit (so maybe Toddler Groot is a better title), but just because he's still small doesn't mean he won't be able to help his fellow Guardians, both old and new. There's just one thing we've been wondering about Groot in this form: will he still be deep-voiced, or will his smaller stature mean he sounds higher pitched? Time will tell.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hits theaters on May 5, 2017.
