Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces

Creature Commandos Interview: Maria Bakalova Wants to Work with James Gunn Forever


Listen Later

Maria Bakalova knows what she’s doing when it comes to finding top-tier creative partners in film and television. As a student studying at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Bulgaria, she gravitated toward acclaimed filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, a directing duo she still works with to this day. She met Julian Kostov in 2019 when he shared a casting notice for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the movie that’d ultimately earn Bakalova an Oscar nomination. Now, Kostov is Bakalova’s producing partner. Under their Five Oceans banner they produced Triumph with Grozeva and Valchanov directing. The film was selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Next up on Bakalova’s list of dream collaborators she’s hoping to establish a long-standing creative partnership with? James Gunn. In fact, during her Collider Ladies Night interview, Bakalova noted, “If I have to choose one person that I want to stick with the rest of my life, it will be him.”


Bakalova worked with Gunn for the first time on Guardians on the Galaxy Vol. 3 in which she played Cosmo the Space Dog. While Gunn’s run with the Marvel Cinematic Universe would come to an end there, his working relationship with Bakalova wouldn’t. Gunn made the shift from Marvel to DC, and brought Bakalova along with him. He cast her as Princess Ilana Rostovic in his adult animated series, Creature Commandos, the project that’d kick off the new DC Universe. At the start of the show, Task Force M is brought in to protect the Princess and the nation of Pokolistan from Circe (voiced by Anya Chalotra) and the Sons of Themyscira. However, as the season progresses, those involved start to question who they’re protecting the Princess from - and if she needs protecting at all.


With all seven episodes of Creature Commandos Season 1 now available to stream on Max, Bakalova joined me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to revisit her journey to the DC animated series, and to share her take on what goes down during the finale episode of the season.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Collider Ladies Night & Collider ForcesBy Collider

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

397 ratings


More shows like Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces

View all
Happy Sad Confused by Josh Horowitz

Happy Sad Confused

1,246 Listeners

Collider Witching Hour by Collider

Collider Witching Hour

218 Listeners

LadyGang by PodcastOne

LadyGang

11,180 Listeners

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang by Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

8,652 Listeners

Call Her Daddy by Alex Cooper

Call Her Daddy

165,607 Listeners

Not Skinny But Not Fat by Dear Media, Amanda Hirsch

Not Skinny But Not Fat

6,133 Listeners

The Viall Files by Nick Viall

The Viall Files

25,415 Listeners

Work in Progress with Sophia Bush by iHeartPodcasts

Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

3,106 Listeners

Giggly Squad by Hannah Berner & Paige DeSorbo

Giggly Squad

14,758 Listeners

Collider For Your Consideration: Award Season Predictions by Collider

Collider For Your Consideration: Award Season Predictions

1 Listeners

Collider Connected by Collider

Collider Connected

0 Listeners

Drama Queens by iHeartPodcasts

Drama Queens

22,356 Listeners

Podcrushed by Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, Sophie Ansari

Podcrushed

1,047 Listeners

The Squeeze by Taylor Lautner

The Squeeze

1,448 Listeners

I've Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDario by iHeartPodcasts

I've Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDario

172 Listeners

Call It What It Is by iHeartPodcasts

Call It What It Is

1,067 Listeners

Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce by Wave Originals

Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce

9,944 Listeners

Good Hang with Amy Poehler by The Ringer

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

7,679 Listeners