James Gunn Talks About Vin Diesel's Voice Work in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
Update: It sounds like Diesel may still be doing the voice work for Baby Groot in Guardians 2 after all, and we've altered our headline to reflect that. Here's a different tweet from writer/director James Gunn that indicates the smaller version of the character may require some different vocal work from the actor (read: it probably won't sound like Groot sounded in the first movie).
That might mean Diesel's voice will be heavily edited in post-production, he'll take a hit from a helium balloon before he records dialogue, or he has a lot more vocal range than we previously thought. Adding to the evidence is a recent photo of the Groot-script that Diesel and Gunn share, so it looks like Comicbook's piece was off the mark. We regret not digging deeper into the details earlier. Our original article follows:
While it seems like it would've been common sense to assume, it's now official that Vin Diesel will not be voicing Baby Groot in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Comicbook says that while director James Gunn has confirmed that Diesel will be lending his voice to the film in some way, it will not be with the now much smaller Groot.
That would be science fiction. We’re talking reality here (talking sprout, not talking tree). https://t.co/wp9bC9Odru
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) September 4, 2016
It's worth mentioning that in the footage we saw of Baby Groot at SDCC, he did not speak other than the occasional grunt. I could very well see perhaps the team making a brief appearance at the Groot home planet where all the other Groots are! That would be funny to see the planet of Groots with all of them saying their trademark phrase.
Are you disappointed Diesel won't be voicing the small Groot? I think it's fine without him.