James Gunn Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Look at Making of Peacemaker’s Opening Dance Number

James Gunn revealed a behind-the-scenes look at the Peacemaker opening dance number and how it was made. On Twitter, the director shared a photo of what it all looked like from his monitor on the day of recording. In the past, Gunn has talked about his vision for the wildly popular opening set to Wig Wam’s “Do You Wanna Taste It.” As the HBO Max show rolled out, a lot of viewers were not expecting the tone of the series to take on this Hair Metal vibe. Clearly, it resonated as Peacemaker became a fan favorite in short order. Adding to the fun is the fact that the dance number takes on a very different tone as the series progresses. People on social media just couldn’t get enough of the song and the performances. Now, with Peacemaker poised to have a second season, the only question remaining is how Gunn decides to top himself next time out.

During Podly: The Peacemaker Podcast, the filmmaker expanded on his reasoning for the opening sequence. He told the audience to stick around for the opening as things continued.

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“That was in the script from the beginning. There’s a woman by the name of Charissa Barton who I hired to do the choreography for us…She did a fantastic job,” Gunn began. “I really just wanted something very, very weird. I remember [Leota Adebayo actor] Danielle Brooks coming to me and going, ‘What are we doing? What is this?’ And I’m like, ‘Just look totally serious. You’re not having fun, just be very, very, very, very serious.’ (Laughs) And telling Charissa, ‘We gotta make the dance as ridiculous as it could possibly be while they remain completely serious.’… Charissa really helped me to put that together, she was the one that designed it, and she did an amazing job.” 

“One of the fun things that you’ll see as you watch the episodes of the series is [the opening credits] plays a different role in every episode,” Gunn added. “I know people are going to be able to skip over it — I hope they don’t — because it plays a different role in every [episode]. It just always tells a different story. You’ll see as our story gets darker, and deeper, and more sad, that the dance itself kind of becomes more sad and more serious and less funny. So it’s interesting to see in that way.”

What do you want to see as the opening for Season 2? Let us know down in the comments!