In just a few hours, the five episodes of I am Groot will be
dropping on Disney+, giving fans a taste of what the eponymous alien was up to during his younger years. Whereas guardians of the galaxy director James Gunn insists the five shorts, totaling around 25 minutes in length, aren’t in the same continuity as the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios Animation boss Brad Winderbaum, suggests that is simply not the case.
In fact, the longtime Marvel producer says the shorts take place immediately after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
“It’s a narrow window, isn’t it?” It takes place between the end of Guardians 2 and before the tag scene in Guardians 2“, Winderbaum said. “So it’s in this narrow window that Groot is in this kind of post-toddler stage of development. And that was something that really turned her on, James, and James knew Kirsten too. [Lepore]and I was thrilled to work with her as well.”
Lepore, the project’s director, adds that she consulted with Gunn throughout the production process.
“Yeah, I had great meetings with James at several points in the process. And the most pivotal being our first kickoff meeting, where we just discussed this amazing character he’s created just to make sure that we could do baby Groot like we’re supposed to,” she said.
Lepore concludes, “And I remember him being like, oh yeah, that’s a bad baby. And also that’s like an emoji, which made me laugh. And I just kept saying repeat that in meetings. I was like, we have to make sure that we just nail these poses and facial expressions because you know, all he has is two eyes and a mouth. He doesn’t even have a no nose, it’s a very limited face. It’s like an emoji, nail an emotion and expression.”
The five short films of I am Groot coming to Disney+ on August 10.
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