Did you wonder why it was so wondrously well-heeled to open your heart to the adorable sort - of - talking tree creature Groot ? Because he ’s an amalgam of everything that is endearing in this world , include theatre director James Gunn ’s dog , Dr. Von Spears .

We speak to Gunn about the mysterious origins of the motion picture version of Groot :

You have talked a mickle about Rocket andfleshing out this character made from nothing . But what about Groot ? He is a lineament that can only say three words , “ I am Groot , ” in that order . He is not human . You made audiences relate to a talking racoon by giving him this attractively tragic backstory . How did you make audiences connect with a non - talking , talking tree diagram ?

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James Gunn : I recall Groot is in some way the easiest fictional character to link up to in the film . He is , from the head start , the only one that has some sense of others . And he has an innocence about him that is something that I do n’t know if we associate to , because most of us do n’t feel too innocent , but I retrieve we love . Truthfully , a lot of Groot is based on my Canis familiaris Von Spears . I reckon there ’s a kind of puppy - like innocence to Groot . That if my firedog could talk , it would believably say , “ I am Groot . ”

How much time did you expend manipulating his eyes ? They ’re are so soulful , like a dog ’s oculus like you said !

His eyes look a lot like my dog ’s eyes . That was a real , of import thing . The eyes was the affair that I concentrated on the most . With him , and with Rocket really . Really looking at the eyes and thinking about the eyes . Groot was actually probably well-heeled than Rocket because Rocket ’s heart are a miscellany of animate being and man . It was a literal delicate counterbalance with him .

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