Outtakes are inevitable when making a movie a movie, as nobody is going to do every scene perfectly. However, there was apparently one scene in particular in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that gave Dave Bautista trouble. During the film, Drax, being his honest self, tells Mantis just how physically hideous he believes her to be. Bautista told our own Eric Eisenberg exclusively that filming that scene led to many outtakes as it's hard to tell a beautiful woman she's ugly and still work through your lines. According to the actor...
It's funny because Pom [Klementieff] is so beautiful. You know, keeping a straight face while I'm saying it is so, it's next to impossible. There's a lot of outtakes from that scene. But I think, and that's again that's one of the twisted, dark things, you know, [the] sense of humor of James Gunn.
James Gunn certainly has a unique sense of humor and it's that sense of humor that has made the Guardians of the Galaxy the most unique and entertaining characters within the MCU. Even under the makeup of Mantis it's clear that Pom Klementieff is far from ugly, which makes Drax's insistence that she is absolutely hilarious. It's little wonder Dave Bautista had a hard time even saying the lines.
Mantis is one of the new characters that joins Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as an assistant of sorts to Ego, played by Kurt Russell. She's an orphan who was taken in by the Living Planet. By virtue of the fact that she's lived in isolation for so long and has never known any of her own kind, she has something of an identity crisis as she doesn't really know who she is or how to act around other people. So, when Drax tells her she's physically hideous, she believes him because she has no reason not to. She doesn't really have a problem with the idea either because she has no reason to believe being ugly is a problem.
Of course, while the makeup that turns Pom Klementieff into Mantis certainly makes her look unusual, it's a bit of a stretch to say that she's ugly. Though we'd have to assume that Drax tastes go in a slightly different direction, he's fairly interesting looking himself. Mantis, on the other hand, is mostly human looking, simply with the addition of antennae.
Drax and Mantis make up one of the great pairings in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The two characters spend a great deal of screen time together and become fairly close, even though Drax believes that his new friend is disgusting to look at.
Check out Dave Bautista's full comments below.
We're certainly hoping that Mantis becomes a full-time member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. We think she's nice to look at and she's also a fantastic new character.
