CALL HER MANTIS — OR CANADIAN?
Quebec-born star dishes out on what’s going on between her Avengers character and Drax
Paging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Pom Klementieff would like her Canadian citizenship, please. It seems like it would be a snap for the
Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy actress to get a Canuck passport. She was born in Quebec City 31 years ago.
But her Korean mother and French/ Russian father were in the country on diplomatic visas on behalf of France, so bureaucratic killjoys of the day decided baby Pom was French, not Canadian.
“I tried twice to get Canadian nationality, but it didn’t work,” Klementieff said from Los Angeles this week, as she was preparing to travel to Toronto for this past Wednesday’s local premiere of Avengers: Infinity War.
“I lived one year (in Quebec), and then I moved to other countries. So I’m French. I just have a French passport and I tried twice to get the double nationality and they didn’t let me. They said I was born in a French bubble in Canada and it doesn’t count that I was born there. It’s really weird, I know!”
Almost as weird as Mantis, the antennae-headed character she plays in
Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy, who has the empathic ability to read “psychic vibrations.” (Her original comic-book version was even stranger: she married a tree — not Groot — and worked as a barmaid and prostitute.)
If anyone would be on Klementieff’s side to get Canadian citizenship, it might well be Trudeau, a big fan of sci-fi movies who will no doubt be among the many to see Infinity War, which gathers dozens of Marvel heroes onscreen together for the first time.
It’s also likely the PM would be keen to hear about the gang’s-all-here experience of making Infinity War, and also Klementieff’s explanation of what exactly is going on between Mantis and strongman Drax. The Guardians of the Galaxy gang take an irreverent view of superhero adventures but the Avengers don’t kid around as much. Was it difficult to fit into the more serious mould for Infinity War?
For me, it was not a big change, because my character stayed the same, and she’s still quirky. She doesn’t really apprehend things in a very dramatic way. But of course I knew that I was part of something bigger and something much more dramatic. Did you know the whole story of Infinity
War going in, or just your part? We would of course expect Mantis to know everything.
I harassed producers to read the script and finally they gave me one to read on an iPad that I could borrow for a few hours.
And then the other actors told me they didn’t get to read the script. Or some people got a fake script, to avoid spoilers, so maybe I got a fake script, too. Now that you’ve seen the finished film, was the script you read real or fake? You know what? I don’t remember! It was a long time ago. But I think it was pretty close. It was incredible to see it in its entirety, with all the other characters. There was a lot of stuff that I’d forgotten about. And what makes me the happiest is just looking at the poster and seeing so many women on it. Have you always been a fan of Marvel Comics movies?
Oh yes, such a huge fan. I’ve seen them all, and I’ve seen them all in theatres, you know? Because for me the (film experience) is to watch a movie on the big screen with other people. It’s really important, especially with movies like ( Infinity War).
Infinity War reunites you with Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen, who were also in one of your earliest films, Spike Lee’s 2013 remake of the payback thriller Old Boy. And there’s a third actor I can’t name for spoiler reasons.
Yes, yes, yes! It’s funny, it’s like a reunion with us, and you know, I’ve now tried to kill Josh Brolin in two movies! So I hope at some point it’s going to be more friendly, our relationship in another movie. What exactly is the relationship between Mantis and Drax (Dave Bautista)? Is it romantic or not?
I think it’s really sweet. They’re just buddies. They just get along and they like to be next to each other and talk to each other like a brother and sister. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I think Drax may think it’s more than just platonic.
No, not at all! And when you ask (writer/director) James Gunn, he says, “No, no way, they don’t like each other that way!” They’re not attracted to each other at all … Some people just see two people from the opposite sex get along, and they’re like, “Oh, they’d be so cute together as a couple, blah blah.” No! This interview has been edited and condensed.