Despite the freedom he had while creating the series, Peacemaker writer-director James Gunn came up against some challenges while executing his vision. During a press event attended by CBR, he broke down two sequences that were particularly difficult to capture, even though he ended up happy with the final results.
Referring to Peacemaker’s escape from the apartment complex in Episode 2, Gunn said, “That was a really incredibly complex scene to shoot, because it was a combination of an actual — that pink building is a real place, but we had to make it taller in post-VFX than it actually was. So it was a combination of shooting this actual real place with real balconies and then we built the side of the wall on a sound stage. That was another piece of it.”
“Then another piece of it was the apartment that we built on a sound stage that had a balcony on the back of it, where they came off of, and we had to shoot that as well,” he continued. “So that combination of shooting just made it really complicated and crazy to shoot. We planned it out ahead of time and it worked really well.”
“The other thing I love about it is that those stunts — what I call gags — so those gags that Spencer [Thomas] was doing — he’s John Cena’s stunt double — are probably the best stunts I’ve ever seen in my life. They’re deceptively simple, but he was really jumping down all those things,” he recalled. “It was just incredible to see. It’s so painful, and Spence was a real member of the team throughout the whole shooting and just did a fantastic job.”
“I also like to see a little bit of Evan and Amber, who are two of my favorite recurring cast members, who are unique in and of themselves and trying to take this show and take out these small guest stars, but really give them a way to shine, as opposed to just being there to spotlight stuff about our main cast members,” he added.
Gunn also pinpointed a scene from Episode 3 that was particularly challenging to film. “It was just really hard to shoot, and it was really hard to edit! All that stuff in the back of the van was some stuff we shot pretty early, and it was actually really hard to put together and I wasn’t happy with it for a long, long time,” he said. “Then eventually, I became pleased with how it turned out.”
“But I also think it’s important because we had to address this thing of Peacemaker and his belief that it’s okay to kill however many men, women and children he needs to to create peace,” he explained. “We also see that a little bit of it is probably a line that he’s been saying for a long time that he doesn’t really fully believe, that he’s not on board with killing kids, yet — at the same time — is such a dick as to point out the unattractiveness of one of those children.”
“But I will also say that’s heavy makeup on that very cute little girl who does not look like that at all,” he explained. “I would never put an ugly little kid in that scene and make fun of them. So she’s a very cute, sweet little girl who’s very excited to see herself in Peacemaker, and I don’t know how her parents are going to show it to her. But yeah, that’s that scene.”
A followup to The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker picks up in the wake of Chris Smith’s mission in Corto Maltese. Having recovered from the bullet wound Bloodsport left him, he is drafted into an off-the-books mission with A.R.G.U.S. agents Emilia Harcourt, John Economos, Clemson Murn and Leota Abedayo, as well as Adrian Chase, aka Vigilante. Together, they face an invasion of body-snatching alien butterflies, even Smith’s father Auggie musters up an army as the white supremacist terrorist White Dragon and the local police department comes down on them all.
Peacemaker‘s first three episodes are now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes airing weekly on Thursdays.
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