'Cookies for life': Sean Gunn has made 2 movies in Oklahoma City. Both filmed in this bar.

As crew members hustled to set up lights, cameras and props for a new scene, Sean Gunn settled into a chair near a back corner of the Oklahoma City karaoke bar Cookies on Western.

With a grin, the actor acknowledged that he was indeed sitting under a framed photograph of none other than himself.

"I was sitting at the bar, and we were about to shoot on the first scene and I was looking around. And I was like, 'Um, guys, that's me on the wall. I don't know if this is an Easter egg or if we're gonna frame it out or whatever,'" Gunn told The Oklahoman with a grin.

"That's not by design. ... But I love it. It's so cool. I'm flattered and honored. I'm really happy to be up there."

On Friday, Gunn filmed his role as the enigmatic Russell in the homegrown independent film "Defiant Vanity," an upcoming music drama written and directed by OKC filmmaker Benjamin Tefera.

It is the second movie to bring the actor, who is best known for playing Kraglin in Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies and Kirk in the Emmy-winning television series "Gilmore Girls," to Oklahoma City. Gunn played a stand-up comedian in OKC writer-director Mickey Reece's 2021 "nunsploitation" horror movie "Agnes," filming his scenes in that Oklahoma-made convent creep show at Cookies in early 2020, which got his photo on the bar's wall.

"I know it's strange, but I'm now the premier Cookies interpreter, I think. I'm the Cookies thespian that is the most traveled," Gunn joked with The Oklahoman in an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview.

"Work like this is the most fun stuff for me to do, and it's a matter of reading the script and saying ... 'Am I right for this? Can I do justice to this character? Is it well-written? Is it an interesting story? Is it a story that needs to be told?'

"And once you check those boxes, I don't care that much about what the budget is. I just want to make sure I'm in good hands."

What is 'Defiant Vanity' about and which Oklahoma filmmakers are working on it?

A crime drama set in the contemporary Oklahoma City urban music scene, "Defiant Vanity" follows a group of up-and-coming hip-hop stars whose friendships are tested as they gain fame and fortune.

For the project, which wrapped principal photography Friday night after 20 days of filming over four weeks in OKC, Tefera reunited with producers Slyrex, his brother, and Ben Stillwell White, with whom he attended the University of Oklahoma. He previously worked with them to make his feature film directorial debut, the "no-budget" thriller "Feel So Good," which played at OKC's deadCenter Film Festival in 2021. 

"We all met in college over at OU a couple years ago, and we've just been doing random creative endeavors together since then. (It's) whatever strikes our fancy at the time, whether it's music videos, short films or commercial work. We just found a very symbiotic relationship, like we speak the same language, and that helps a lot," Tefera told The Oklahoman during a lunch break on set at Cookies.

With "Defiant Vanity," he and his collaborators are taking a big step up: Their second project boasts a $650,000 budget, has qualified for the state film incentive and is being considered for the new Oklahoma City Film Incentive Program, which was approved last March. 

And it features Gunn, a longtime actor with more than 60 credits to his recognizable name.

"That was kind of a wake-up call. He flew to town the other day, and I was like, 'Oh, this is actually happening. We're not looking at IMDb pages anymore. He's really here,'" said Tefera, whose friends have nicknamed him "Barry," in part for his love of comics, including DC's Flash, aka Barry Allen.

"We've been developing this project truly since the moment we finished 'Feel so Good' ... so it's been a very long process for us. But ever since we got into production, it feels like it's been just like two blinks, and it's over."

"Feel So Good" star and OU alumnus Grayson Dunn returned to Oklahoma from his home base in Florida to act in "Defiant Vanity." He plays Ari, an arbitrator who gets sucked into the musical drama.

"I met somebody who wants to put me in his movies, and I get to work with Sean Gunn. So, I'm kind of living the dream," Dunn said. "Initially, it's a bit overwhelming when you first hear about it, because I've only ever done one other project. So it was like, 'Oh, I'm gonna be working with a professional, but not just any professional, somebody who's in some of the biggest movies of all time.' So, I think it's a little intimidating. ... But it's been great. He's incredibly generous, and I'm learning a lot just sitting across from him."

‘We make something, and it can have an impact forever,' Sean Gunn says of working in TV and film

Dunn's Ari is sitting alone in a bar when he is first approached by Gunn's mysterious Russell, who begins dispensing advice on choosing to do what you love and not waiting to travel like so many people do.

"I like to talk, and so does Russell. This guy, he's ready to tell you everything about the world that you don't know. And I grew up with a lot of guys like this: I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, my father was an attorney, and I came from a family of lawyers. We used to go to the club and hang out with all ... these guys who they're always ready to tell you how the world is. And you should listen up when they're talking, because they're gonna tell you how it is — and I immediately respond to that. I know what that is and who it is," said Gunn, whose older brother James Gunn directed him in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies and the 2021 Warner Bros./DC film "The Suicide Squad."

"I try to love every single character that I play, no matter how distasteful they might be to other people. I love them. They're mine. They have one shot at being fully realized from the page to the screen — and that's me. So, I take a lot of responsibility for that."

With his roles in multiple superhero franchises, Gunn often appears at pop culture conventions. But it's not always fans of those blockbusters who approach him at those events.

"I have 12-, 13-, 14-year-old girls (approach me) that love 'Gilmore Girls,' and I'm like, 'We literally stopped filming before you were born,'" he said with a grin.

"But it's one of the great things about … what we do is that we make something, and it can keep having an impact forever."

Although Gunn's scenes in "Defiant Vanity" were all filmed inside Cookies on Western Friday afternoon and into the evening, the production didn't wrap until later that night at another OKC dive, The Ugly Flamingo at 3020. Still, the producers said that Gunn turned up at the OKC wrap party Friday night and hung out for hours with the cast and crew.

"My first film that I did here was directed by Mickey Reese ... who's an extremely talented dude," Gunn said. "And I talked to Benjamin — whom I'm learning is called Barry — a while back, and he clearly had a good head on his shoulders and had a vision for what he was doing. So, then it's a matter of, 'Do I trust myself in this person's hands?' And I said, 'Yes, I do.'

"So, hopefully, we're making something cool. I love this type of work: There's a lot to sink my teeth into."

Plus, he now knows the perfect place to go if he's in OKC and has the urge to sing.

"I gotta come here and do karaoke now, I guess," he said. "Cookies for life."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Sean Gunn returns to OKC to film upcoming movie 'Defiant Vanity'