Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Goriest Scene Was Mostly Practical

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s goriest scene ended up being mostly practical. In a recent interview with Awards Radar, the head of the production’s makeup department Alexei Dmitriew told fans how the detail of The High Evolutionary‘s massacred face was practical. That detail may come as a shock for some of the viewers out there, but it fits for James Gunn’s vision for the character and this movie. Check out what the effects wizard had to say about getting Chukwudi Iwuji’s villain ready right here. 

“We did a full makeup on him with this really cool denture piece that would carry his upper lip. All of that was practical. We had a practical face that we would dress with blood and everything of the sort,” Dmitriew explained. “The only visual effects were where his eyes sunk in, and his nose got pushed in. We blocked that out for visual effects, and they did their work. But when they peeled his face off, all of that was practical. With every take, we were set to get the face back on and dress it with some slimy blood underneath it.”

The High Evolutionary Is Different Than The Comics Version

Comicbook.com’s Phase Zero talked to Iwuji about the subtle differences between the comics version of the villain and the one in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It seems these were active choices on the part of the studio.

“I don’t have those conversation. I didn’t even have those conversations with James before Peacemaker. I think because, again, I come back to his scripts. I had so much in the scripts and enough there. The Rocket backstory for the purposes of this movie was all we needed. Who the High Evolutionary’s mother was or birth planet really doesn’t matter here for me,” Iwuji said. “I really am as an actor in general, not just for this, I’m very wary of overly researching stuff. Because sometimes you get so lost in those details and they’re what we then take into the room, and sometimes they block what’s actually in front of you or what’s on the text.

He added, “And then statements like, ‘Oh, I don’t think my character would do this,’ start to pop up. And you just go, ‘well, why the hell not? The script says you do it. Find a way to navigate that.’ Does that make sense? So, I really didn’t discuss that with James. In fact, I just found out that reading an interview he did that the High Evolutionary visited Earth in the ’80s. I just find out. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s very interesting.’”

“It wouldn’t have been useful to me playing it at all because my line is just, ‘I visited your planet years ago.’ That’s all I need. I’ve been there and seen it. So, no, I didn’t go into those sort of discussions. Believe me, there was so much on that page that I just couldn’t wait to flesh out as it was.” Iwuji concluded.

Did you love this High Evolutionary detail? Let us know in the comments down below!