Vin Diesel and James Gunn Talk Baby Groot, and What Vin Thinks of the 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is now moving toward its post-production phase, and so far, only one cast member of the highly anticipated sequel has seen any newly completed footage from the film — and he’s shared his immediate reaction on Facebook Live.

In a post from earlier this weekend, Vin Diesel shared his instant response to a completed clip — apparently, an expanded version of the material shown at this past summer’s San Diego Comic-Con — from the Marvel sequel, in which he’ll again voice the anthropomorphic tree creature Groot. Suffice it to say, Diesel is impressed, stating, “The first word that comes to mind is ‘necessary,’” before then going on to describe James Gun as his friend — and “My friend’s a genius.”

Given that Groot never says anything other than his name, it would seem like voicing the character would be a relatively easy gig for the Fast and the Furious star. However, in order to give his every line reading an added depth of meaning, Diesel was actually provided his own unique script for the sequel (that only he and Gunn have), which translates his every ‘Groot!” utterance into its English-language equivalent.

As for how the baritone actor will handle voicing Baby Groot – who, by nature of his infancy, will speak in a higher register – Gunn took to Twitter to explain that Diesel will have no problem handling his duties in Vol. 2 because, you know, he’s an actor.

While there’s still no word when an official trailer will be released, it could be this year, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — also starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Glenn Close and Kurt Russell — lands in theaters on May 5, 2017.

Related: James Gunn Wields Thor’s Hammer in Our ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Gallery (Updated!)