Home Entertainment Zoe Saldana joins Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY as Gamora! Also, I rant a bit…

Zoe Saldana joins Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY as Gamora! Also, I rant a bit…

2 min read
5

It seems like Star Trek and Avatar star Zoe Saldana has a thing for body paint and medieval weaponry, as she’ll be trading the blue skin and bow and arrows for some jade complexion and a really big sword as one of the titular Guardians of the Galaxy in director James Gunn’s upcoming cosmic superhero epic.

According the THR, Saldana is currently in negotiations to star opposite already cast Chris Pratt (as team leader Peter Quill aka Star-Lord) and Dave Bautista (as Drax the Destroyer) as the green skinned warrior assassin Gamora. Gamora’s entire humanoid race was wiped out by another set of ET’s known as the Badoon before she was found and adopted by Death worshipping demigod Thanos (Yes, that Thanos) and trained to become one badass killer, eventually earning herself the nickname of “The Most Dangerous Woman In The Universe” (hyperbole much?). She would of course go on to reject Thanos’ evil universe destroying ways and become a hero herself, much to his annoyance.

Okay, now that I’ve got the informational part of this story out of the way, it’s time to get my rant on.

While Ms Saldana is certainly a capable actress, and nobody is ever going to accuse her of not being easy on the eyes, there’s just one problem. Gamora is a powerhouse of a woman, who very much looks the part of a badass fighter. Zoe Saldana looks like she couldn’t beat an egg in a fight. She’s already tried her hand at this action lady stuff in Colombiana and despite the very visible physical enthusiasm she brought to that role, it still looked kind of ridiculous when this waif of a girl, who can’t weigh more than a half empty packet of cheese curls, was delivering singular knockout punches to the jaws of men who look like the illegitimate offspring of Lou Ferrigno and a Sherman tank.

Now this is not an exclusive Zoe Saldana problem. It happens often in Hollywood, with the most prominent other example being Angelina Jolie in Salt, where her fight scenes ended up looking like a coat rack wrestling some buffalo.

When I thought of who could play Gamora, obviously MMA star turned actress Gina Carano immediately sprang to mind. As far as appearances goes, you simply couldn’t find a better match of beauty and brawn. Now it’s true that while Carano has a black belt in ass kicking, she’s still a white belt in acting, so Marvel may have wanted somebody with a bit more thespian chops. But then what about more statuesque, physically imposing actresses like Adrianne Palicki, Zoe Bell or Moon Bloodgood?

I know this is nothing but a slightly ridiculous movie based on some funny books, but at least try to make an effort. Now if Ms Saldana were to to suddenly hit the buffet cart and the gym and put on some extra muscle mass, then I would be all for this casting. But somehow I have a feeling that that’s simply not going to happen.

Last Updated: April 4, 2013

5 Comments

  1. Wayne Bossenger

    April 4, 2013 at 15:33

    hmmm, could work, if she’s all cgi like avatar, which is what im expecting it to be

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 4, 2013 at 15:54

      Nah, as far as I can tell, and based on the grapevine rumblings Gamora will be all makeup job, not CGI.

      Reply

      • Wayne Bossenger

        April 4, 2013 at 16:18

        ah, well, yea… that would be odd…. guess we cant bash it till we see it but yea, not sure how they’re going to pull that off then…

        Reply

  2. DarthofZA

    April 4, 2013 at 15:38

    They can maker her look big… they made Chris Evans look small…

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 4, 2013 at 15:56

      It would make zero sense to do that. Chris Evans had to be made to look small so that they could hide the beefcake physique that he unveiled later.

      Gamora always looks buff. Hiring a smaller actress and digitally making her bigger just because, would just be wasting time and money.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Action-packed new Shang-Chi trailer shows off the Ten Rings in battle

A brand new trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings shows us the revamped or…