Candid Chat with Zoe Saldano as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 #GotGVol2Event

The time is almost here! Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 enters theaters this Friday, May 5th! I have already seen the movie and am eager and excited to see it again. I have my tickets purchased and just waiting like a child on Christmas morning for that moment to arrive. While in LA last week, covering the red carpet premiere, I also had the chance to sit down with cast and crew, including Zoe Saldana (Gamora).

She entered in the room glowing and radiant and full of smiles. She stated she loved talking with the mommy bloggers. As she sat at the table, we started with the first question, “How did you feel about your history coming out with your sister (Nebula, Karen Gillan) in the story?”

Zoe replied: I loved it.  I loved it.  I was very excited, there were three female characters in this movie, and they all were going to provide three different essences.  Mantis resembles such an innocent creature, and Nebula’s so angry.  She’s so angry! And Gamora is so maternal.  She’s turned over this new leaf. 

In the first movie, she was so selfish.  It was about getting away, and running away from her father. Now it’s like, it’s about keeping this family together, and keeping them always on track.  So she went the opposite of who she was in the first movie.

Zoe is the mother of three young boys. We asked if she drew from her experience in motherhood to help with her maternal side as Gamora.

I tried, you know, but I’m the middle child of three sisters, so I was neverthe Gamora.  Like, my sister Marielle is more the Gamora.  She keeps us on track and everything. I was always the one, it’s like, ‘Zoe, focus, focus, I’m like, squirrel!’ Middle kids are sort of, I don’t know, it’s the title that they give you.  You don’t take any responsibility, you don’t finish what you start, and you never obey your parents, you know?  So, that was me.  

So channeling something in Gamora, I think I was just thinking about my sister. About the responsibility that she must’ve put upon herself to help my mom, like, raise Cicely, my younger sister and I.

It is a known fact that Zoe is a strong female and loves talking about women empowerment. When asked about how this helped her in her role as Gamora, she responded:

I love it.  I do, I do. I would like to take a break from playing, you know, kick ass science fiction females.  I’ve been doing it for over 10 years, I’m kind of tired.

Growing up, when I was little, I only had two icons that I can reference, and I’d watch those movies until my tape would break. It was Ellen Ripley from Aliens, and it was Sarah Connor from Terminator.  I would watch these movies endlessly.  It was like, Jamie Lee Curtis, when Katherine Bigelow did that movie, Blue Steel, and James Cameron also did that movie, True Lies, like, I had her as a reference. 

But other than that, I was always watching action movies told through the eyes of males and stuff, but always feeling that gap, that void, you know? I feel like I did take it upon myself to just be happy with the fact that I took a gamble on these movies for a first time, they ended up being super special, and they went into sequels.  I didn’t think of this, trust me.  It was not my idea. I had my responsibility to fulfill them.  Once I was there, I didn’t want to be better about it.  I wanted to acknowledge that maybe, maybe it means something.  Maybe it is important that I’m a part of those women that are filling in that gap, so that women can have more options, more references to look into.

Following up to that question, she was asked what she wanted young girls of today to take away from her role as Gamora.

I think that it’s okay to still be vulnerable, and be strong.  I think that for some reason, we take it upon ourselves, or where we’re told, thatyou have to be one thing or the other.  I think that vulnerability is strength, and being strong that means that you have to be vulnerable.

I hope young women take that.  I don’t see Gamora as a strong character.  I see her as someone that’s tired. Annoyed, but she’s very vulnerable.

It was evident that Zoe was very fond of the closeness that Gamora and Nebula achieved in Volume 2. She said she loved that she was able to connect.

I’m biased.  I would want her to go to Nebula.  I would go with my sisters anywhere.  They call me, and they’re like, ‘let’s go.’  I’m like, ‘okay.’ Like, I just go, ask questions later.  I would go to Nebula.

This movie was FILLED with action between Nebula and Gamora – tons of stunts. We asked Zoe if she could elaborate on her stunts, in particular, as we had heard earlier from James Gunn that most of the cast did do their own stunts. She did have a stunt double for some parts, but she did quite a bit herself.

Her name is Leanne, and she’s phenomenal.  She really did all the parts where Gamora looks absolutely like, unbelievably, like, just cool, that’s Leanne. All the parts where I’m posing, and taking out my sword and stuff, that’s me.  

I did do a lot of those jumps.  I would d a lot of the stunts that she would do, but like, the PG-13 version.  Because, one, I can’t do them, and two, it’s a liability to the film if I get killed or something.  So, I posted something on Instagram.  ‘There is a jump that I did.  They made me jump from like, three stories or something like a 30 foot jump.’

 

I was on wires, but I still can’t remember if somebody told me, and I just brain farted, or somebody forgot to tell me that I was going to free fall.  I was not going to feel the tension on the wires.  So when they said ‘Action’, and I jumped, there’s so many men watching you, I jumped.  I jumped, and thought I was dying. Forgot to speak English, I was like, ‘Help me’ and  James Gunn was like, ‘Yeah, your face was kind of awful there.You have to do it again.’  I was just like, ‘Oh my God!’  So I did it again.  It’s on Instagram, but as soon as I land, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this again.’  The girly girl came out of me. It was awful, but super fun.

Interestingly, it took about 4 hours each day to turn Zoe green for her role as Gamora. She did say it was an improvement from the prior movie. She was on set each day about 2:30AM and would pass the time talking, listening to music and facetiming with her family. 

Final question! This part may be bit of a spoiler for the movie, so stop here if you don’t want to know key pieces of the outcome of the movie. Come back and read after you see it this weekend! 

The chemistry between Gamora and Star-Lord, Peter Quill did intensify this movie. We asked about her input into that dynamic and how she would like to see it progress in Volume 3 (Release date TBD).

Question: So there was a lot of chemistry in this movie, with you and Peter Quill. It was a big evolution from the first movie, where it was just kind of like that attraction, to now, this seems to be where you’re a little more emotionally invested in him.  Do you hope to see that evolve even a little bit more, in the third movie?

Zoe responded with: Yes and no.  I’m not a sucker for romance.  You know, in films?  Like, it needs to be really well done, and very meticulously paced out, in order for me to feel like it wasn’t gratuitous for the audience, and it wasn’t just part of like, a recipe for disaster at the box office.  I think that James Gunn is exceptionally talented in the way that he creates strong characters in the beginning, and then he really lets these characters tell him where they need to go, based on what he established before.

So, Gamora and Quill, they’re best friends.  The bond that they have is so spiritually dynamic, that, to top it off with a kiss might actually ruin it.  So, I feel like it lives better, and it’s stronger, in the way that they communicate, and the way that they counsel each other, and the way that they think and protect each other.  And then the way that they cover up for each other.

So, the fact that he has never exposed her to the rest of the Guardians, that she dances with him, is awesome.  He’s protecting her dignity.  He also knows that she’ll kill him. But she doesn’t also reveal all these things about these hang-ups that he has about trying to find his dad and being abducted from his planet.  Really, what Yondu did to him is very traumatic.  Not at the scale of Nebula and Gamora, but it was very traumatic within itself.  So, they really have a relationship, that when everybody goes to sleep, they’re up, and they’re talking.  That kind of transpired in the way that James Gunn designed our relationship to unfold in this movie, and I would like it to sort of run its course.

If in Vol. 3, if I do go back, and we do end up having a kiss, let it be because we’re so desperate to see it, because it’s, it’s the one thing that just needs to happen between them.  Up until now, I think that we got just what we needed from them.  I feel, I hope. Their connection lives in what’s here (the heart), and not in, and not in the flesh.

This interview was awesome. Zoe is so refined and classy. She really is a wonderful, easy-going person to talk with. Head to theaters May 5th to see GOTG Vol 2! If you haven’t see the GOTG Vol1, get it now on DVD beforehand and be prepared to have your mind experience so much joy, you will want to explode!

Here is the extended trailer to get you as excited as I am for the movie release on May 5!

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Baby Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Tommy Flanagan, Laura Haddock, with Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell.

Kevin Feige is producing, and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Jonathan Schwartz, Nikolas Korda and Stan Lee are the executive producers. Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” blasts into theaters on May 5, 2017.

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*(Photo by Louise Bishop)