ZOE FALLS FOR ROLE
Relishes girl power in ‘Guardians’
AS ZOE SALDANA leapt off the ledge and dropped 30 feet on the set of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” she briefly feared the stunt would be the last movie scene she ever filmed.
“Obviously, I was (attached to) wires, but I forgot or maybe somebody didn’t tell me that I wasn’t going to feel the tension in the wires while I was falling,” the actress told the Daily News. “I literally thought something had malfunctioned and I was going to die.
“Mind you, I was landing on cushions, but still it was a very scary fall. And (director) James Gunn wanted me to do it again. I was like, ‘Why am I doing this? I have kids at home.’”
If Saldana’s life flashed before her eyes in that moment, it would include some pretty kick-ass action sequences. And the reason she keeps filming movies in the Marvel, “Avatar” and “Star Trek” franchises is precisely because of kids — not just to be the world’s coolest mom to her three young sons but to inspire a legion of other people’s daughters.
“I remember being 7 or 8 years old and searching high and low for these references for these icons for me,” said Saldana, who counts Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in “Aliens” as one of her role models. “I always loved watching action … but kind of going, ‘I wish that was a girl doing that,’ or, ‘I don’t want her to kiss him.’
“I realized these films are something that I have to do to leave a trail for those five or six young girls in the world that are like I was, looking for those references.”
One of those references will be her turn as the warrior Gamora in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” the sequel to the 2014 blockbuster that opens Friday. And as many fight scenes as she racks up, the real battle is to keep from getting overshadowed by the guys — Chris Pratt’s Starlord, Dave Bautista’s Drax and the Bradley Cooper-voiced Rocket Raccoon.
Superhero movies, after all, haven’t been a particularly progressive genre. It’s 12 years since the last superheroine-fronted flick, “Elektra,” was in and out of theaters faster than a speeding bullet. It’s taken Wonder Woman 75 years to make it to the big screen in her own movie (coming out June 2). And it will have taken Marvel 21 movies to get to its first female-led entry by the time “Captain Marvel” comes out in 2019.
“It is a testosteroneheavy set,” said Saldana. “But in this one we have three females in prominent roles.”
One of those roles is Gamora’s deadly sister Nebula, played by Karen Gillan. The Scottish actress has seen firsthand what a strong female presence can mean for fans from her stint on the British television series, “Doctor Who.”
“I’ve had agoraphobics talk to me at conventions about how they come out just to see me,” she said. “It’s been really amazing to see the positive effect this can have on people.”
It takes three-and-a-half hours in the makeup chair to turn the mild-mannered Gillan into fearsome assassin Nebula. The character’s voice is based on a combination of impressions of Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe.
“I keep getting roles that require a lot of combat, and it’s really funny to me because I’m not very good at that,” Gillan said. “I’m much better with words. There are times when I’m doing a stunt and I’ve just been screaming like a little girl.
“Whenever I fight Zoe Saldana that’s always fun,” she added. “She’s amazing at that stuff and she’ll always tweak my body position to make sure I’m doing it in the coolest way possible.”
French Canadian actress Pom Klementieff, who rounds out the film’s strong female trio as the new addition, Mantis, was a relative unknown when she scored the role.
She boasts some real-life boxing skills but Klementieff plays a character whose power is the decidedly tame ability to read people’s emotions.
“I really wanted some action, I really wanted to fight,” said Klementieff. “I was training every day, and was like, ‘Please, please give me something.’ But I think it makes my character even more interesting that she doesn’t fight.”