Playing Mantis…

What can you say about Mantis?

What I can say is that she arrives at the same time as Kurt Russell’s character in the movie. She has something that makes her like a child, a little bit. She discovers things for the first time. She’s kind of like a bug, an alien. So she’s a little bit weird, too. She discovers things, and these Guardians change her life. And she has empathic powers. If she touches people, she can feel their feelings.

What was it like working with Kurt Russell?

He’s a legend, and he’s hilarious. He’s so funny. It was amazing to work with him. He would tell me stories about his previous roles and anecdotes on set. I learned a lot from him. He taught me how to play bocce – you know, boules – which is funny, because it’s a game that you play in the south of France, but Kurt Russell taught me how to play that, so it’s kind of cool.

What was the make-up experience like for you?

I have prosthetics on the forehead that look like mini-antennae, and then with CGI they make them much bigger. Once they put it on my head, I don’t really feel it any more. To get completely ready – make-up and hair and clothes – it would take two hours, which is nothing compared to what Drax and Gamora and Nebula go through. The only thing that felt weird was that I had to wear black contact lenses that cover the whole eye. There was a person whose job was to put lenses in, to take them out, to put drops in my eye every 10 or 15 minutes to keep my eyes hydrated. I’m not kidding.

What was it like doing Infinity War after Vol. 2?

It was crazy. When I was shooting Guardians 2, I heard several times, “Oh, you might be in The Avengers.” “You might be in it.” “I think you’re going to be in it.” I was like, “Yes!” And then when it was confirmed, I was just so happy. It was great to work with those other Marvel characters.

After these Marvel movies, what would you like to do next?

I would love to play a lot of different things. I’d like to do an action movie, for sure, and train like crazy. Emily Blunt in Edge Of

Tomorrow is just my hero; she was incredible. Sometimes, actresses are in action movies but you don’t really believe in it. But you saw she was really prepared for it. There are so many things I’d like to do. It’s hard to pick. It’s like: “What do you want for Christmas?”