Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow Explains Why He Didn’t Want To Direct Guardians Of The Galaxy

Chris Pratt as Starlord in Guardians of the Galaxy
(Image credit: (Marvel))

Colin Trevorrow is famously the almost-director of the upcoming ninth Star Wars film, as he left due to “creative differences” and The Force Awakens’ J.J. Abrams then returned to the franchise. But apparently, the Jurassic World director almost helmed a space epic for Marvel Studios too! Here’s what Trevorrow recently revealed:

I met on Guardians of the Galaxy long, long ago. Yeah, very early. It was a great conversation. I was not a comic book kid. That wasn’t my thing. I was a Star Wars kid, an Indiana Jones kid, a Spielberg kid – that was my thing. So it was a great conversation, but a little bit more of a personal understanding of, you need someone who loved this growing up. [They] should be the ones directing these movies. You’ve gotta live and breathe it in the way that I did Jurassic and these films that I get to be involved in now.

Of course, James Gunn would be the one to establish himself as the main creative behind the Guardians of the Galaxy films, with a distinct personal connection to the Marvel Comics material. Colin Trevorrow is still part of a Chris Pratt-led trilogy with Jurassic World. So everything worked out nicely! It is interesting to hear he was in the running for the Guardians films, per his words to The Empire Film Podcast.

The conversation came up on the live taping in London as Colin Trevorrow was gushing about Kevin Feige’s carefully crafted MCU, calling it “one of the most impressive feats of narrative construction in film history.” He then revealed his meeting with the Marvel folks, though it never came to fruiton due to his unfamiliarity with the comic book material.

After his breakout indie hit in 2012’s Safety Not Guaranteed, Colin Trevorrow found a franchise that better aligned to his childhood passions. Trevorrow said he was a “Spielberg kid,” so it’s perfect that he would end up working with the famed director on revitalizing his classic franchise.

After handing off the directing reigns to J.A. Bayona for Fallen Kingdom, Trevorrow will return for Jurassic World 3 to close out the franchise. He has called it “a celebration” of the entire franchise, giving fans hope for a reunion with more of the original cast. Jurassic World 3 will reportedly soon begin filming in Pinewood Studios in London ahead of its June 11, 2021 release.

Until then, Colin Trevorrow recently directed an eight-minute short set in the Jurassic World and feature new dinosaur species called Battle at Big Rock, which premiered on FX on Sunday.

As far as Guardians of the Galaxy goes, the third film will begin production after James Gunn’s work on The Suicide Squad. No word on a release date yet, but it will likely be a part of Marvel’s Phase Five.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.