The method of integrating the songs into the script was not a straightforward one. Whereas quite a lot of filmmakers sometimes lean on a music supervisor to assist craft the soundtrack, Gunn did a lot of the work alone, alongside his rewrites. Narratively, it made sense to maintain issues rooted in ’70s pop. The 2 mixtapes that Quill saved from his childhood on Earth aren’t simply anchors to his heritage: they’re additionally time capsules of a form. Gunn labored arduous to decide on recognizable songs, if solely to assist “ease the viewers” into the world of the movie.

“I began the method by studying the Billboard charts for the entire prime hits of the ’70s,” Gunn instructed Vulture in 2014. “I downloaded a couple of hundred songs, and from that made an iTunes playlist of about 120 songs, which match the film tonally.”

Sure songs impressed particular scenes that Gunn added to the script; different occasions Gunn used a chunk of music to raise a scene that had already been written. After finishing the script, Gunn introduced the songs to the set as properly: “‘Ooh-Ooh-Baby,’ ‘Hooked on a Feeling,’ ‘Come and Get Your Love,’ and extra had been all performed on set by our marvelous sound group. I discover it helps the actors and the digital camera operators to seek out the proper groove for the shot.”