Pressure is on for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ sequels

As his “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” safely stays on a winning box-office trajectory, filmmaker James Gunn can fully turn his focus to his Marvel future, which includes writing and directing “Guardians 3.” And with that, he must contemplate the near-impossible: Can an American director deliver a popular trilogy that holds up critically and commercially throughout?

For inspiration, Gunn looks toward foreign shores.

“When we have this discussion about what is the best trilogy overall, obviously there are things that come up,” Gunn tells The Washington Post.

Henry Braham, the director of photography on “Guardians 2,” describes their film as a spaghetti Western set in space, so one great trilogy comes especially to mind.

“There are two leading choices,” says Gunn — the Man With No Name trilogy by the late Italian director Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, and the Vengeance Trilogy by South Korea’s Park Chan-wook.

“Some people say the ‘Red,’ ‘White,’ ‘Blue’ (Three Colours) trilogy” by Krzysztof Kieslowski, continues Gunn, who also notes Peter Jackson’s Tolkien trilogy. “But for me, it’s between Vengeance and Man With No Name.”

Yet those trilogies aren’t continuing narratives. Gunn also looks toward the Toy Story trilogy and Jason Bourne films, but then he emphasizes that a single director didn’t bear the weight of all three films.

“One of my fears,” acknowledges Gunn, who committed to “Guardians 3” only after he finished the first sequel, “is that there aren’t a lot of sequels to look to for role models.”