GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is one of summer’s most highly anticipated releases. Directed by James Gunn, the film will form part of Marvel’s second phase – and focusses on a rag-tag team of space outcasts who must unite to take down an intergalatic evil being.
We’ve finally been treated to a trailer for what looks to be a rather epic Marvel outing. The most stand-out member of the team has to be Rocket Raccoon – a gun-toting, quip-loving talking raccoon. Rather than just generating a computer raccoon based on imagination, Gunn wanted Rocket to be as realistic as possible and instead decided to source a raccoon to study so that they could get Rocket just right.
The film has been shot primarily in the UK and, although not native creatures of England, the raccoon used is indeed British, and is called Oreo. Upon hearing this news THN decided to track down the little guy and thankfully his handlers Sallie and Jon were more than happy for us to stop by and meet him. Oreo is the star attraction of animal encounter company Oreo & Friends.
Oreo is somewhat of a hero himself – as he takes part in a lot of charity work and has helped raise money for various charities including Help For Heroes. He also frequently visits children’s hospice’s where he brings a great deal of joy. His next charitable endeavour will see him visit a rehabilitation site for soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
Since the news that Oreo was involved in the production broke via James Gunn, the company have been inundated with requests to meet him. Thankfully Oreo’s owners Sallie and John managed to squeeze us in for a chat about the filming process and a meeting with the handsome raccoon.
How did you get involved with GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY?
SALLIE: James’ researchers found Oreo on our websites. When they were looking for a raccoon they wanted a dark one. You’ll notice the others we have are slightly more grey whereas Oreo has quite a dark face. That’s what they were looking for as it makes him look younger.
Had you heard of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY before you were approached?
SALLIE: No. I didn’t know, until we got to the studio, what we were doing! We got the thing from the studio and they use a code names for Marvel. So we went down, we knew they wanted to film a raccoon, and thats all we knew. So I took it on thinking ‘hmmm it’s at Shepperton so it must be a closed show‘, so we went down. Then when we went in, there was this big poster of Rocket and I thought ‘what’s that all about then?‘ There was all this fruit and all this food, and everyone was like ‘James will be here in a minute‘ and we were wondering who he was as he had everyone pandering to him. (Laughs) Then he came in, and the next thing he’s rolling around on the floor with Oreo.
What exactly did you have to do?
SALLIE: We were in Shepperton for a couple of days. They studied everything about Oreo. He did a lot of standing and eating like he is now. They wanted to see how his hands and mouth work, they wanted to see his ears twitch. They soaked his fur so they could see what it looked like when wet.
Just so many people had to come and see us whilst we were down. So many people, they all have different roles, they were parting his fur and looking at the base layer of his fur and the different layers, pulling it apart. It was just amazing, so many people – about 250.
How was Oreo?
SALLIE: He was an angel all day. We took the grapes and the kibble, we took boxes and they were filled with food so that they could watch him take it all apart and eat it. We had bowls of water to put things in and do the whole water thing with him (raccoons like to put their food underwater before eating it). Just all sorts of things. But Oreo’s really well behaved – the best behaved of all of them (they had seven raccoons whilst we were visiting). You can take him anywhere.
I was trying to explain to them that a raccoon can do one thing with its hands and it could be doing something else with their hands. So he can be looking at something over there but he can be seeing with his hands as well. They were very interested in that concept. So we were saying he could be flying the the spaceship but could be doing something else as well. Their dexterity is completely amazing.
JOHN: The scientists reckon that within each of those fingers there’s 150 nerves and each one goes to a different part of the brain. so while they’re looking at something and they touch it, they see the shape 3D in their brain.
SALLIE: If they’re in a river and they feel the shapes of the stones, they’ll remember where they were for three years. Very, very intelligent creatures. There’s a lot of research going on at the moment (on communication) between the brains and the hands of the raccoon. The hands are just amazing. They can manipulate so many things; they have a great amount of strength in them as well .
JOHN: You have to be careful where you put the bolts (on the enclosure).
SALLIE: They’re fantastic with locks and doors.
JOHN: (Laughs) Definitely! They’ve locked me out more than once.
James has posted a lot of pictures of Oreo and his friends over the last few months. What was he like as a director?
SALLIE: He’s lovely. We’re meeting up with him again when he comes back to do the score. He mentioned it in another interview (that we were meeting up) and I was like ‘oh, are we now?‘. But James is lovely. He is very nice and the animals just love him. He’s really good with them, he just has that empathy with animals.
He spent a lot of time around here with all of our animals, and just fell in love with them all, especially Betty (one of the coatimundi’s), and Timone (a meerkat). He’s posted so many pictures of them all. I’ve just inherited so many rocket raccoon fans on Facebook, because Oreo’s got his own Facebook.
But they’ve been amazing, and they were all lovely and so professional.
Oreo is obviously the influence for what Rocket will look like, with Bradley Cooper providing the voice. Is he happy with this choice?
SALLIE: (Laughs) My daughter is VERY happy! I’m sure he’ll do a really good job.
How do you feel knowing that, although you took Oreo in, Rocket will be computer generated?
SALLIE: It will be weird. It’s him, but not him. It’s a combination of him, James’ vision and Bradley Cooper.
Should there be a sequel, would you go back?
SALLIE: If we were asked we’d be silly not too wouldn’t we?
Well it seems like you have a really good relationship with James Gunn so I imagine he would ask.
SALLIE: A really good relationship, he came round here for fish and chips!
JOHN: Laid out on our sofa with Betty on his chest.
SALLIE: Oh we’d definitely go back. I’d definitely work with him again. especially with the animals. He’s amazing, amazing and they love him as well.
Will you be going to the premiere with Oreo?
SALLIE: Well, we’ll be going. I don’t know about with Oreo though. We wouldn’t be able to watch the film with Oreo. Not with old big pest.
Don’t be jealous of us though getting to spend all this time with Oreo as you to could be shaking paws with the furry fella as Oreo and his friends are available for hire!
It’s not just raccoons that the couple own though- oh no – they also house several meerkats, coatimundis, skunks, kinkajous, fennec foxes, porcupines, a whole Noah’s ark of creatures. When asked how it began, John replied ‘we started out with two skunks six years ago and now there’s all these!‘ Most inhabitants came to be in the care of John and Sallie as rescue cases. It seems that the British public love buying themselves an exotic pet before thinking about how they will look after it. The pair have also taken in surplus animals from Zoo’s and Wildlife parks. Their big hearts have left them full to capacity at their home.
Oreo and Friends cater to all sorts of events, from birthday parties and schools, to charity walks to photography shoots, and are always on the lookout to try something new. The pair are fully-licensed and come prepared with an age appropriate talk about the animals and the opportunity to get really hands on with the them. Oreo, and the other raccoons will walk up to you and take some treats straight from your hand, and if you’re really lucky you might get a quick cuddle.
You can request what sort of animals you want ,and don’t worry if fluffy isn’t your bag as they also house some reptiles and creepy crawlies. For more information please see their website. After being introduced to them all I can vouch that it would be a one-of-a-kind experience and well worth the money. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want Rocket raccoon, the infamous Guardian of the Galaxy, at their party?
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY directed by James Gunn, and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, John C.Reilly and Lee Pace, is set for release 1st August 2014.
Images by Kat Smith
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