The last day of filming “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” brought an end to a nearly 10-year franchise for writer-director James Gunn and his cast and crew, including Chris Pratt. The actor headlined the trilogy as Peter Quill/Star Lord, and he decided to mark the last day of filming on “Vol. 3” by going back to the very beginning with a speech that called out all of the original “Guardians” haters.

“I’m not a vindictive person…but I happened to have in my notes file several press clippings saved from the first movie when everyone predicted that ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was going to be Marvel’s first flop,” Pratt recently told Fandango about the speech he gave on the last day of the “Guardians Vol. 3” set. “That was the consensus critically. Everyone was saying all of these negative things. At the time, we were insecure and nervous about the prospects….they’re saying it’s a title no one has never heard of, we don’t have any A-list stars, [it will be] Marvel’s first failure. I remember all of that.”

“Of course none of that came true,” Pratt continued. “We had this great run. At the end, I wanted to read some of those clippings to the cast and crew and to James and to…I guess kind of rub it in a little bit. Just to say we overcame a lot to get to where we are and we weren’t supposed to be where we are but we did something special. Just to bask in the moment of what these last 10 years have been.”

At San Diego Comic-Con in July, Gunn shared his memories of that last day on set. After blocking himself from the emotion of saying goodbye to his “Guardians” family, Pratt’s funny remarks broke the dam.

“I got teary eyed,” Gunn told Variety. “But Zoe Saldaña gave a speech that just crushed me. I just lost it, like I really cried.

That level of emotion is unusual, he explained: “I’m a big tear guy — I’m not a cry guy, but a tear guy. I get the little tears; I’m sitting with my fiancé and we’re watching some movie and I get teary eyed all the time. Real easy with the tears, not easy with the cry. But I cried and it was really beautiful.”

The original “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie defied all pre-release doubts when it earned some of the best reviews for a Marvel movie and grossed $94 million in its opening weekend. The film went on to earn $333 domestically and $772 million worldwide, no small feat for a movie made up of comic book characters that the general public had never heard of prior to the movie’s release. The 2017 sequel performed even better with $146 million opening on its way to $389 million domestic and $863 worldwide.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” will end the trilogy when it opens in theaters on May 5 from Disney.

Source: variety.com