Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies, Netflix | Tagged: Amanda Seyfriend, Gamora, gotg, guardians of the galaxy, mank, netflix, zoe saldana

Guardians of the Galaxy: Amanda Seyfried Thought MCU Film Would Bomb

Published Tue, 08 Dec 2020 13:55:29 -0600

by Tom Chang

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Actress Amanda Seyfried is one of many who misjudged missed opportunities for a juicy role. In her case, it was the role of Gamora, which went to Zoe Saldana in Guardians of the Galaxy. Among her reasons were she wasn't a "Marvel movie watcher." Another reason was the prospect of spending hours in makeup to achieve Gamora's signature green look didn't appeal to her. Lastly, she thought the James Gunn Marvel Cinematic Universe film would bomb at the box office.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Amanda Seyfried Thought MCU Film Would Bomb — L – Amanda Seyfried. R – Zoe Saldana as Gamora in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Images courtesy of DFree / Shutterstock.com and Marvel Studios

Amanda Seyfried's Bold Missed Prediction on Guardians of the Galaxy

"I didn't want to be part of the first Marvel movie that bombed," Seyfriend told The Hollywood Reporter in their "Awards Chatter" podcast while promoting her film Mank for Netflix. "I said, 'Who wants to see a movie about a talking tree and a raccoon?' Which is clearly — I was very wrong. The script was great; it was all based in not wanting to be 'that guy,' because if you are the star of a giant movie like that, and it bombs, Hollywood does not forgive you. I've seen that happen to people, and it was a giant, giant fear, and I thought, is it worth it?" When Seyfried talked to Comic Book, the actress said, "I was thinking, 'Ah, I don't wanna be green. It's just so much work. I remember Jennifer Lawrence talking about once (while doing X-Men films), how long it took her to get blue. And I was like, 'That seems like hell on earth,' because then you get to set and you're only there for a couple of hours, and then you have to take everything off. And that was literally the reason."

On top of the characters also appearing in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019), the two Guardians of the Galaxy films grossed a combined $1.6 billion globally at the box office. Guess it could be worse. The late Sean Connery took the role of Allan Quartermain in the ill-received League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) simply because he regretted passing up the role of Gandalf for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy for not understanding the script. It also ended up being his final on-screen role before his retirement. Mank is available to stream on Netflix.