James Gunn introduces Kevin Bacon as his favorite character in the MCU

Gunn recently revealed that he wanted to do a holiday special and came up with the idea to include Kevin Bacon.

"Well, the germ of the idea was just doing a holiday special," Gunn shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "I love the holidays and I love Christmas cookies and I love getting together with my family and giving presents to each other. It's my favorite time of the year. When I was a kid, I loved the Star Wars Holiday Special, but I also loved Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I still think [How the Grinch Stole Christmas!] is one of the greatest cartoons of all time."

"So the idea of doing a holiday special with the Guardians was both a really funny idea to me and also something I really wanted to do," Gunn explains. "And once I sat down and started trying to figure out what the story was, the Kevin Bacon idea came up very, very quickly, and I wrote the whole story within a few hours."

During the interview Gunn also shared that Kevin Bacon was receptive to the "Introducing Kevin Bacon" gag in the opening credits. The director said that Bacon "lost it" after watching the trailer for the first time.

After securing the services of Kevin Bacon, Gunn also managed to add his favorite band The Old 97's to the movie. The band will be playing a song that is co-written by the director himself.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will be available for streaming on November 25, 2022, on Disney+.