While Vin Diesel is most commonly associated with Groot, the actor is not the only one that has helped bring the talking tree to life in the MCU.
That Vin Diesel plays Groot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-known fact, but there are other actors that have played the member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the MCU, with each one helping to bring a version, or more, of the lovable Marvel character to life. First debuting in the MCU with James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Groot then exploded in popularity in order to become one of the most loved Marvel characters on the planet, despite never having been a huge name in the comics. Gunn’s found family franchise proved itself endearing, with Groot playing a pivotal role in its success.
With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 set to be the final movie for this version of the team, it is exciting to see what kind of MCU future Groot could have. The character has appeared in many different ways throughout the years, going from adult to baby to teen and more. Given how popular Groot has become and how easy it is to bring the character to life in comparison to other superhero roles that demand a stressful training routine, it is likely that Diesel will stick around for a little longer. If not, Marvel has already shown that the character is not only made up of one actor.
Vin Diesel
Best known for his role as Dominic Toretto in the action franchise Fast & Furious, Diesel was cast against character as the lovable Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy. Since debuting in the MCU with the cosmic team’s first movie in 2014, Diesel has lent his talents to the CGI character several times, providing the voice work for every Groot appearance in an MCU project. His long list of appearances includes Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, I Am Groot, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
While some might consider playing Groot an easy part in comparison to other MCU characters, as Diesel only does voice work for the role, that assumption could not be farther from the truth. In the past, Gunn has stepped up to defend Diesel’s casting in the role by saying he got the part instead of the other 150 actors who auditioned for the role, as well as claiming that “Groot didn’t feel fully Groot until Vin did his voice.” While most of the character’s dialogue consists of variations of “I am Groot,” Diesel managed to imbue the hero, in his many versions, with personality, also dubbing Groot in different languages.
The actor getting cast as Groot also helped Marvel Studios launch the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Back when the first movie premiered, most of its cast was not well-known, with the most popular actors being the ones in voice roles — Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon. Despite the duo’s names having helped boost interest in the movie, the actors’ greatest contributions to the franchise were in their voice acting, with both Groot and Rocket becoming two of the most beloved characters in the MCU. Diesel’s past voice work in The Iron Giant likely prepared him to be able to excel at playing Groot.
Krystian Godlewski
While Diesel has played Groot in every appearance of the character in the MCU through his talented voice work, the actor is not responsible for doing the actual motion capture for the member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The man in charge of bringing Groot to life on-set of his first MCU appearance, Guardians of the Galaxy, was Krystian Godlewski. The Polish actor helped give physical cues for Groot to the movie’s production. Godlewski also allowed other actors to have a notion of where to look when interacting with Groot, in a similar fashion to what Josh Brolin and Mark Ruffalo have done while playing Thanos and Hulk, respectively.
James Gunn
This one might be a surprise to many, as Gunn is most commonly known for being the writer and director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Gunn has not only played Groot in the past, but he has done it three times. Gunn stepped in to provide the dance moves for Groot at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, then decided to return for more. Gunn did the motion capture for Groot’s dance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The scene in question was right at the start of the sequel. Gunn’s dance moves were part of Baby Groot’s adorable dance scene in the movie’s action-packed opening.
Gunn must have really enjoyed the role, as the director decided to become Groot once again recently. Gunn did the reference work for Groot’s dance scene in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The director has now played different versions of Marvel’s talking tree, with the two movies giving him a go at the popular Baby Groot, while the Disney+ special saw Gunn portray the character’s latest version, which is referred to as “Swole Groot.” While Gunn portrayed Groot on the special’s set, he did not have to wear any special suits, with the VFX team using his dance moves as reference for the character’s animation.
Sean Gunn
James Gunn and Sean Gunn filming Guardians of the Galaxy
Brother of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise’s director, Sean Gunn has been an important part of bringing the team to life in the MCU. The actor has provided the motion capture work famously for Rocket Raccoon but also for Groot, over the two character’s MCU presence. Allegedly, just like Diesel, whenever Groot’s been there, Gunn has played a part in bringing the talking tree to live-action. The actor’s on-set motion capture work has been used for every version of Groot that has been seen on the big screen, and it appears that his days of providing reference work for Marvel’s VFX teams are numbered.
Gunn revealed to Empire Magazine that the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be his “swan song as Rocket,” saying that he is too old to continue playing the role on-set. Given the actor’s words about his most famous motion capture work in the MCU, it appears that Gunn will no longer be lending his talents to Groot in the future either. While this chapter closes for the actor, Gunn could still appear in the franchise as his character Kraglin, who lets the actor appear as himself as a member of the Guardians.
Terry Notary
Finally, Terry Notary was responsible for providing the motion capture work for the Teen Groot version of the character in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the two biggest MCU releases ever. While Notary’s contributions as Groot stopped there, the actor had other roles in the MCU, with his work as a motion capture choreographer and movement choreographer in the last two Avengers movies being of note. Overall, Groot has had a pretty solid roster of actors helping the character come to life in live-action, and should he stay in the MCU beyond Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, more people will come in to continue Groot‘s legacy.
