Perhaps the most striking juxtaposition while interviewing the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 was interviewing Karen Gillan, Nebula. When she walked into the room in full costume and makeup she looked totally hardcore, but when she spoke she was bubbly, sweet and had a lovely Scottish accent. Absolutely not what I was expecting, and I couldn’t get over it.
Clearly I am not the only one who is taken aback by how different she sounds versus how she looks in costume, she told us that even James Gunn can’t get over her breaking character on set. But she has defiantly embraced her inner villain and delights in portraying a character who is so different from herself. She credits the makeup for helping her get into the role, and enjoys the American accent she has worked on for Nebula.
Thanks to Disney for inviting me on this once-in-a-lifetime set visit.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 Karen Gillan Interview
Karen Gillan was a delight to interview, these are some of my favorite moments from the interview.
On Nebula’s relationship with Gamora:
I think we’re just going to really delve much further into it, and we’re really going to learn about their back story as well, which is really exciting for me as an actress to explore. We’re going to learn that they have very severe daddy issues. When Thanos is your father of course you’re going to have those. And they’re going to really talk to each other. Usually they communicate quite physically — sisters pull each other’s hair, they sort of try to kill each other. But they’re going to talk and that’s really interesting, I think.
On Nebula’s makeup:
I have been able to keep half of my hair for this film, which is very exciting. So that added an hour of just wrapping all the hair up in a bald cap. And then it takes about 2 1/2 hours to put the makeup on, which is actually quicker than the last film. The last film was maybe around five hours for the full process. So it’s significantly quicker. I don’t know how that happened. And then to get into this [costume] is about 20 minutes. So it’s quite a long process, but it’s just so worth it. It does half of the job for you as an actor because you look like this.
This is all basically like a second skin. It’s all glued to me. I’m not painted like the other ones, so I think it’s a little easier for me. They just peel off at the end of the day. It’s quite good for the skin actually to take off because they use all these like natural oils, which is great for the skin. It’s like a facial.
On reading Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 script for the first time:
I emailed James, the director, and just wrote, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I get to do all this stuff.” Because when I went on to the first film it was originally an eight-day shoot. And I felt that was the end of my character as well. So, when I found out I was coming back for the next film up I was like, “What?!?” And it was really cool because in the first film they just kept on rewriting my ending. And I was just like okay, which one is going to be used? I don’t really know because we shot a few of them. And then when I found out I was coming back for the next one it was just amazing. And he’s given her all this back story and we understand why she is so bad and she has motivations, and it’s just sort of really fleshed out, which makes me really happy.
On how Nebula has changed:
I think we’re going to understand her more. We’re going to have a bit of empathy toward her. As to whether what makes her soft, I don’t know because she’s still classic pissed off Nebula. That’s her default face. But we’re just going to understand why she does the things she does and understand her relationship with Gamora in much more detail, and maybe understand that Gamora wasn’t as nice as she makes out toward Nebula in their childhood.
On auditioning for the role:
It’s interesting when you audition for a Marvel film. You don’t really know that much about it. All I knew is that it was a female villain, and that was enough to attract me to it because, you know, with these big films quite often a girl is the girlfriend or some sort of glamorous role. But this was totally different. And I was like wow, that’s really cool. My dad always told me to aim to be a Bond villain rather than a Bond girl. So that was a cool moment for me.
On Nebula’s stunts:
I try to do as many as possible. I’m aware I do not look as good doing them as Kelly, my stunt double. So I’m happy for her to do them just because she’s going to make the character look cooler. But I do have to do most of them. There was one where she had to drop from the ceiling really fast, I didn’t do that. But they want to be able to use you as much as possible just so that they can see your face in the shots. So I try to get involved.
On Nebula’s new hand:
Oh, the mystery of the hand. I don’t want to give away anything, but then is the hand really a spoiler? So she’s definitely got something in place of the hand that she chopped off, not necessarily a hand though. So she goes on a mission to rectify this. So it’s a whole thing. She’s on the hunt to replace whatever is there. And then she does replace it with something really, really cool.
On her favorite Guardians of the Galaxy character?
Oh, good question. The new character Mantis is pretty great. Pom, the actress who plays her is brilliant. I couldn’t imagine anybody else playing the role. But I’m going to say that my favorite is actually Drax. I think he’s the funniest person I’ve ever met, on and off screen. Like he can make anything funny, and he doesn’t try to and that’s why it’s so funny. His dry delivery, just how huge he is with that dry delivery is like such a funny combination to me. Everybody dies whenever he’s acting.
On Set With Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 blasts into theaters May 5, 2017, and it’s going to be awesome – mark my words! Don’t miss any of my posts from the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2:
- 7 Behind-The-Scenes Facts From Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2
- Chris Pratt – Peter Quill / Star-Lord
- Zoe Saldana – Gamora
- Dave Bautista – Drax
- Michael Rooker – Yondu
- Director James Gunn
