Women Power…There’s a ton of it in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2! Karen Gillan (“Nebula”), Pom Klementieff (“Mantis”) & Elizabeth Debicki (“Ayesha”) sat down with us to chat about their characters and their involvement in the film. In a group of female bloggers, they were of course welcomes in with a round of applause.
Here’s what they had to say…
The Make Up Process & getting into character
Karen Gillan: “Well mine takes about four hours in the morning, and essentially I have the character’s skin glued to my face, which is really as close as I could possibly get to her which is pretty cool. And it’s kind of intense and slightly claustrophobic. [LAUGHTER] and it’s definitely become like part of my ritual, in terms of like getting into character. Like one time I did a rehearsal without the makeup and I did not feel like her at all, so it’s sort of become like a vital part of the process for me which is kind of cool.”
Pom Klementieff: “For me it’s much easier because it’s my skin tones, so it’s like a beauty makeup in a way. And so I need two hours to get completely ready, hair makeup and clothes. Basically, I wear prosthetics on my forehead, it’s just the beginning of the antennas, and then with the C-G-I they make it much bigger…I wear contact lenses in my eyes, really big ones that cover my whole eye…there’s no white in my eye almost. I feel like kind of claustrophobic…I have tunnel vision, so it makes me feel like in my own world, which is kind of good for the character too. So yeah and the antennas I kind of like forget about them and people are like, oh you have something weird on your forehead but me I’m just like yeah whatever” [LAUGHTER]
Elizabeth Debicki: “I think I’ve got it the easiest because I just sort of sit there and someone paints me [LAUGHTER] and it’s kind of sticky and cold and but I love it- the first day I thought it was a bit overwhelming, the whole paint situation. Then I came to set and I said hi to Zoe, and I said what time did you come to work and she said like 3 a.m. And I had a very civil call of like 6 a.m. Then I thought I am never ever complaining about makeup ever again. So and I also asked her for some tips. She said you just have to be very Zen, just be very patient…actually for me the most time consuming and hectic part of Ayesha is the costume and that gold dress is almost entirely metal. And it weighs so much…We used to call it the Ayesha Taco because [LAUGHTER] the whole bottom of the dress is like a great big circular metal thing and it would fold up like a taco and then I would walk up the stairs and wherever I get placed, that’s where I am for the day- and someone said, what does it feel like, I said, it feels like a small child is hanging onto my back.”
On playing strong female characters and what they are hoping children take away from their roles
Pom Klementieff: “That it’s okay to be imperfect and yeah to not be like any everyone else- to be just maybe weird sometimes and it’s you. And that’s what makes you interesting.”
Elizabeth Debicki: “Well for Ayesha- [LAUGHTER] don’t be like Ayesha [LAUGHTER] someone said on the carpet, and what similarities are between you and Ayesha I’m like none, I really hope none…I think the thing about Ayesha is she is very justified in what she’s doing…I think she’s very strong. I suppose her moral compass is slightly askew and she’s slightly merciless…I suppose what I like about her is that she isn’t perfect, she’s actually quite fallible. Even though I mean the irony is they’re genetically modified to be perfect and she’s extremely imperfect, so I guess the same thing in a way but yeah- I would say you could look at Ayesha and then decide to be compassionate [LAUGHTER].
Nebula’s storyline in future films
Karen Gillan: “I feel like she has one clear agenda, which is to kill her father, I really hope that she is the one that gets to do that so I’m crossing my fingers for that. It would be like therapeutic [LAUGHTER] That would be cool. I’d like to see her relationship with Gamora maybe get a little healthier, however not so healthy that they don’t still try to kill each other because that’s so much fun. [LAUGHTER] I want her to be bad but like a little bit good.”
Want more Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Interviews? Check out my interview with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Kurt Russell, James Gunn, Kevin Feige, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff & Elizabeth Debicki.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in theaters May 5th!
Note: Disney provided me with an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of the world premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. However, ALL opinions are my own.
