Leave it to James Gunn to explain the subtle Marvel references strewn about the Disney Plus original series Hawkeye with one of his insights.
The Guardians of the Galaxy director, known for his behind-the-scenes tidbits, is now elucidating for Marvel fans about bringing a second “Groot” to the MCU — only one of which is a computer-generated tree-like alien voiced by Vin Diesel.
The other Groot, it turns out, is none other than the stunt double Rob de Groot for actor Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in the spacefaring Guardians film series.
This all comes from an eagle-eyed fan’s observation from a screenshot of Hawkeye in which Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton is viewing his phone with the fictional New York City LARPers Instagram account pulled up, and it is shown to be followed by a user named “iamgr00t.” This subtle nod made Twitter user @moviepollz curious if people on Earth within the Marvel Universe know who the alien Groot is and his catchphrase.
Gunn’s response on Twitter was that it was “probably the IG account of the MCU version of Rob de Groot, @DaveBautista’s stunt double.” While Gunn admitted “it’s a cool Easter egg,” he joked that the fictional version of Rob diverges from his real-life counterpart in a number of ways.
“[T]he MCU version is a total dick, has a posh British accent & a full, luscious head of hair,” Gunn wrote
It was also just refreshing to see the director give some much-due praise to the oft-overlooked profession of stunt coordination in Hollywood, something that he pointed out is a specialized craft that even the most physically capable actor usually gets some assistance with.
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