Kevin Bacon Describes "Out of Body Experience" Watching Original Guardians of the Galaxy

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was released on Disney+ yesterday, and it follows Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) as they decide to take a trip to Earth and kidnap Kevin Bacon as a present for Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). Of course, Bacon has been mentioned multiple times throughout the MCU due to Peter's love of Footloose. Turns out, Bacon had no idea he was going to be referenced in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie and recently talked to Marvel.com about the experience. 

"I went to Guardians opening weekend in the afternoon alone and had no idea what was coming," Bacon recalled. "If you can imagine sitting there and hearing Peter start to talk about you when you're already deeply entrenched in this movie – and not only that, it's one thing if it was a regular romantic comedy and somebody had made a passing reference, but when it's an actual other universe, it's a pretty out of body experience."

How Did James Gunn Get Kevin Bacon in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special? 

During the Marvel.com interview, director James Gunn talked about asking Bacon to do the special and the actor revealed he agreed to appear as himself without even reading the script.

"When I started writing this and I knew that they were going to go try to get one of Peter Quill's heroes as a gift, of course, Kevin Bacon was the first person I thought of and the one that's been mentioned the most," Gunn shared with a laugh. "That was something that was a benefit of [the special] from the beginning. I called up Kevin and was like, do you want to do this ridiculous thing? And he just laughs his butt off and agrees was great."

Bacon added, "When James reached out to me about the Holiday Special, I don't even remember when he first spoke to me if he said I was actually playing myself or not, but I didn't even need to see the script. I said yes right away, I'm in, no questions asked."

Do You Have to Watch The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?

There are definitely moments in the new special that will come up again in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. During a recent interview with ComicBook.com's Phase Zero host, Brandon Davis, Gunn was asked if the holiday special is required viewing before the movie.

"Well, I'm always trying to be balanced with these things, so I think it's wonderful," Gunn explained. "People should see the Holiday Special. You're obviously gonna learn a lot about where the Guardians have been in the past few years. You know, you're gonna see how they now inhabit Knowhere. They've got a new ship called the Bowie. They've got a dog [who] is part of their crew now who has telekinesis named Cosmo. So where you get to learn all that, and then there's a couple of bigger pieces of spoiler-y lore. You're gonna learn all of those things. In a way, the Holiday Special was a Trojan Horse for me to sneak in stuff that becomes important in Volume 3, so I don't have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of that movie explaining it."

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is now streaming on Disney+, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. is set to be released in theatres on May 23, 2023.