James Gunn loves using his cast and music to surprise audiences: ‘That’s my favorite part of this whole job’ [EXCLUSIVE]
Peacemaker season 2 is finally here and with it comes one very important thing: The opening dance number! The hit HBO Max series delighted fans with its opening dance number to “Do Ya Wanna Taste It” by Wig Wam in season 1. And now, Gunn is bringing fans his favorite band, Foxy Shazam.
The song “Oh Lord” is what the cast dances to for the opening number and the inclusion of Foxy Shazam has already had many, like myself, listening to more of their music. At the San Diego Comic-Con party for Peacefest (a Peacemaker activation), fans got to hear Foxy Shazam perform live and I ended up really loving their music.
So when I had the chance to sit down with James Gunn for a roundtable interview between myself, Cinemablend’s Hannah Saulic, and Gunn, I asked him about being able to share his favorite music with the world and what it is like to collaborate with his favorite artists and share that love he has with fans of his work.
“Oh, it’s awesome. I remember turning Jen [Holland] onto Foxy Shazam like a couple years ago. We were renting a house in LA and we were outside, and I kept playing her different songs and I was showing her videos, and she’s like, ‘How is this band not like the biggest band in the world? They have so many good songs.’ I mean, they’re like Queen, you know? And so to be able to introduce people to Foxy and have them see what a great band there is awesome,” Gunn said. “In the same way it’s cool to get people to see what an amazing actor John Cena is in a way that they haven’t seen or see how good Jen is at acting and fighting or Steve Agee can do dramatic, all these different elements of people that I love and can bring out. That’s my favorite part of this whole job.”
James Gunn has helped many young fans learn about great music
Saulic went on to piggyback off my question about music and ask Gunn if fans come up to him and say that his work helped them find their favorite musicians. Which, as someone who often hears songs I did know prior to The Guardians of the Galaxy movies and now only associate those songs with that franchise, it isn’t hard. But Gunn did say that it happens to him “so often” and then went on to talk about how it feels to have someone connect their love of music with his work.
“So cool,” Gunn said. “One of the funny things is like when we did the first Guardians movie, the guys at Marvel, not Kevin [Feige], but these other guys were all like, ‘This is ridiculous. Nobody’s gonna wanna listen to these seventies am pop songs. This is not something.’ And then it ends up that the people that are listening to it are, you know, 13 and 14 year olds. That’s who it was most popular with. It wasn’t the people that they thought it wasn’t gonna be cool for.”
Gunn went on to talk about how he is “crazy about music, so I love turning people onto this. And now through this I’ve met all these different bands.” But his favorite soundtrack yet? Peacemaker season 2. “I think this is my favorite soundtrack ever this season from anything.”
You can be reunited with Chris Smith in season 2 of Peacemaker, streaming on HBO Max tonight at 9PM.
(featured image: Michael Loccisano/WireImage)
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