Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's Maria Bakalova Didn't Want To Leave the Set While Playing Cosmo: "I Felt Like a Superhero For Real" (Exclusive)
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was released at the end of last year, and it featured the debut of Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) as Cosmo the Spacedog, the character who was originally seen briefly in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Bakalova is returning to the role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is hitting theaters this week. In honor of the new Marvel film, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with Bakalova about Cosmo, mo-cap, and comics in Bulgaria.
"I haven't read actually comics since we don't have them really in Bulgaria," Bakalova revealed. "We don't have comics that much, I don't think, or at least I haven't been familiar with them. But I've been a fan of the universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I've been watching all the movies. And the reason that I became a fan of Marvel was Guardians of the Galaxy, and now I got to play Cosmo and I got to know more about her and her dedication to the rest of the Guardians and to the Galaxy as well."
"I absolutely did," Bakalova replied when asked if she donned the mo-cap suit to play Cosmo. "And I couldn't waste a second to be like, 'Oh no, I'm just going to go home and I'm going to rest, or I'm going to read a book.' If you have a chance to be around all of these incredibly talented people, of course, you're going to spend the full time, or that's my point of view." She added, "And I was putting on the mo-cap suit, and I felt like a superhero for real, because I got to play there and I got to be around all of them, to be watching James [Gunn] every single step and just completely losing my mind and melting my heart, how great he is. And yeah, I did a lot and I met Slate [the on-set reference for Cosmo] and we, I think, bonded together. It was pretty cool. He's the sweetest one and it's a reminder of what a great creature Cosmo is and just dogs in general."
"Yeah, we did," Bakalova told ComicBook.com when asked if she and James Gunn discussed where Cosmo had been before The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. "I was very excited because we see a glimpse of her in the first Guardians, I think, when they're showing all the creatures out there. And I was like, 'Okay, okay, I see now.' And in movies that Marvel has already released, there is always something, that it should be more careful, because in the next installment, maybe that character will exist. So I've been always paying attention because I'm from Eastern Europe and she is a prototype of the first Russian dog that has been sent there. I was like, 'Okay, interesting. Who is going to play it?' And me being from that part of the world, being Slavic, and portraying her has been exciting. And I'm grateful. I'm honestly grateful not only for me, but for all the people from that region of the world."
ComicBook.com also spoke with Sean Gunn (Kraglin/On-Set Rocket) who talked about sharing scenes with Bakalova and Slate.
"Slate comes in as reference, so that they can see how the lighting works and stuff like that. But that dog is mostly completely CGI, which is an amazing feat from our visual effects team," Gunn shared. "It's why it's so great to have an actress like Maria right there to really be the character and embody the character. You're never too many steps removed from pretending too much, in other words. Because it's like, you know who Cosmo is, and I know how she talks and how she behaves, and it's really helpful to have Maria there. Not just helpful, it's vital to have Maria there the whole time.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to be released on May 5th.