When your superhero franchise is rooted in the tunes of an Awesome Mix, the way James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy happens to be, a prop like Star-Lord's (Chris Pratt) retro headphones is pretty much as important as Rocket's rapid-fire guns and Gamora's trusty sword. I mean, Peter Quill's not really Peter Quill without his Walkman. So when Gunn and his team were gearing up for this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, they planned on having multiple versions of Star-Lord's Walkman on hand, for numerous scenes... only, something went wrong.
While visiting the Atlanta set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 recently, we spent time with members of James Gunn's prop department, who approached us in between takes of a scene involving Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana. The main reason they were stopping by was to show off the rubber Baby Groot that the production was using to create proper eyelines for the cast. But they also showed a replica of Peter Quill's Walkman from the original movie. And they told us why they had to create a replica: Because a massive fire at Sony's warehouses eliminated so many copies of the original Walkman that Quill had used in Guardians of the Galaxy.
As it turns out, James Gunn and his team went on eBay as the start of production edged closer, and they found a few ... for roughly $8,000. When you want authenticity, you better be prepared to pay! The best price I was able to fund was $1,400 for a Walkman that looks nothing like Peter Quill's. See it here.
The solution? The props department ended up building six Walkmans from scratch, replicating perfectly the headphones and tape-deck that Star-Lord rocked in Guardians of the Galaxy... the one he even risked life and limb to get back from this dude:
And you can see Chris Pratt wearing it in this behind-the-scenes photo, shared with us by Disney:
What songs will be on the Awesome Mix Vol. 2 that Peter (Chris Pratt) opened from his mother at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy? We'll know soon enough, but the early trailers have suggested that "Come a Little Bit Closer" by Jay and the Americans, as well as "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac would feature prominently. The most recent trailer also featured Sweet's "Fox on the Run," so expect that. Watch the trailer on the next page. And look for plenty more coverage from the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on CinemaBlend today, and all week long! The movie opens everywhere on May 5. Also, click for a full list of Upcoming Marvel Movies.
