The Guardians Of The Galaxy Music Sequence We Never Got To See
One of the more notable features of James Gunn's 2014 film "Guardians of the Galaxy," the tenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was its rockin' soundtrack of familiar 1970s hits. The film's main character, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), was abducted from Earth as a boy and raised among space aliens. One of the only things he kept as a vestige of his life on Earth was a Walkman and a mixtape that was gifted to him by his dying mother. The tape contained "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede, David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream," The Runaway's "Cherry Bomb," and Rupert Holmes' oft-reviled "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." Peter Quill's mother had interesting taste. Norman Greenbaum's popular pick "Spirit in the Sky" played in the film's preview and is on its soundtrack record, but isn't actually played in the final cut of the movie.
Peter, as an adult, turned to a life of space crime, hanging out with space aliens, thieves, and misfits to survive. Early in "Guardians of the Galaxy," one of his heists goes awry, and he is put in prison. Naturally, his beloved Walkman is confiscated by a gruff alien prison guard Spencer Wilding, who listens to a few tunes himself, perhaps hearing Earth music for the first time.
Back when he was still working on the film, director Gunn revealed that the prison guard was meant to have his own miniature moment with one of the songs. According to a 2014 report in Cinemablend, it seems that the song "Magic" by the Scottish band Pilot was supposed to play while the prison guard had a moment to dance. Sadly, the scene — and the song — were cut.
Oh, oh, oh, it's magic!
The description of the deleted scene was laid out by James Gunn himself on his Instagram account, although the post in question now appears to have been deleted. The Cinemablend post, however, related that Gunn wanted to include "Magic" as a dance number for the unnamed, minor character as a show of how powerful Peter's music actually is. "Magic" is a bit of a silly song, but it certainly sticks in the brain. The alien prison guard was to dance around all by himself, enjoying what Scotland's finest Alan Parsons-produced pop could provide. Gunn evidently had to cut the scene for reasons of pacing. However, as the film was indeed shot and edited, Gunn swore to include it on a future home video release as a special feature.
He was as good as his word. The scene was included. One can now watch it on YouTube. The sequence in question is only 30 seconds, but it's available. Spencer Wilding danced through the prison. Although he was grooving to Ian Bairnson's guitar riffs, he still found reason to threaten prisoners with a cattle prod and be generally intimidating. On a commentary for the scene, straight from the Blu-ray, Gunn said:
"I'm not sure this isn't a mistake that we cut this out of the movie because I really love this. This is Spencer, the mean guard, coming in listening to the music he stole from Peter Quill, and this would happen right before we have Gamora being taken away by the mean guys in the prison. I really, I like this and I love this song, the song 'Magic' which is supposed to be in this scene ... Oh, well."
For his efforts, Spencer Wilding received a miniature container of Play-Doh.
Play-Doh
Wait, what? What was that about Play-Doh? Well, as Gunn also pointed out on his Instagram, he had adopted a strange means of motivating his cast and crew. It seems that when someone does something that pleases him, Gunn handed them a miniature container of Play-Doh as a reward.
"Why Play-Doh? Because I would keep a pile of little Play-Doh containers onset and if someone did an especially amazing job that day — whether it was an actor, a grip, a stuntman, or a PA — they'd get a canister of Play-Doh," Gunn wrote. "I probably only gave about 40 containers out over the entire shoot — on an 85-day schedule with a crew of a couple hundred, that isn't much." It sounds like an odd motivational perk, but Gunn continued, "Opening a new container and smelling it puts me in a creative, child-like place. And who doesn't love playing with Play-Doh (I swear Play-Doh isn't paying for this post)?"
This is why Wilding, posing with Gunn, is holding a small yellow cup. Whether or not Gunn is still implementing this reward system in 2023 is unknown, but it was certainly a fun way to assure a light, childlike sense of wonder on his set. Gunn, it seems, is a pretty laid-back director. Especially if he's often listening to gentle rock like "Magic."
Whether or not Gunn's upcoming Superman film will also boast a hit soundtrack remains to be seen. Might I suggest a theme song by R.E.M.?