Among the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s many successes, Guardians of the Galaxy remains one of the most unique hits from the studio. In a lot of ways, James Gunn’s franchise swung open the door for more obscure superhero stories to be told, considering it drew from a pretty niche Marvel comic property. So how would Amanda Seyfried have known she’d be passing on a major phenomenon when she turned down the role of Gamora?
That’s right, Mamma Mia actress Amanda Seyfried was close to playing Zoe Saldana’s part in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy. The actress revealed that she skipped out on an offer to star in the movie last year, but now she’s delved deeper as to why the decision was made. In her words:
I didn’t want to be part of the first Marvel movie that bombed because I said ‘Who wants to see a movie about a talking tree and a raccoon?’ Which clearly, I was very wrong. The script was great, it was all based on 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?’
She’s not wrong. George Clooney still gets asked questions about his short time as the Dark Knight in 1997’s Batman & Robin, and just look at how massive and distinguished his career has been since. It’s not easy to always guess how a big superhero flick like Guardians of the Galaxy will play for audiences. Although Amanda Seyfried admits she very much guessed wrong in her case, no one would blame her for making presumptions about it. Many of us were asking the same questions before we experienced the movie itself.
Amanda Seyfried opened up about her initial thoughts about Guardians of the Galaxy with THR’s Awards Chatter podcast. Along with holding reservations about the content of the movie itself, she also had a valid concern about the matter of being green for long periods of time. As she explained:
The other thing is I knew the people who were blue were sitting in makeup more than they were actually on set and there were all green screens and I thought, I don’t want to be green for six months. I don’t want to go to work and get green and then have a few hours to do my job and get un-green just to go back to work and get green again. I’ve done prosthetics before, it’s not fun. So I made a good choice for myself and my life.
It sounds like Amanda Seyfriend stands by her decision to pass on Gamora because it simply was not a good fit for her in terms of spending hours upon hours in the makeup chair and co-starring with inanimate objects on set. Previously, Seyfried cited being green as the central reason for her decision against it, though she has since reconsidered it since her daughter is now a huge fan of superheroes.
Overall, Amanda Seyfried doesn’t think she would have been happy in the role. That’s a good call to make early on considering Zoe Saldana ended up reprising the role three more times for the Guardians sequel and two Avengers films, and will be stepping back in the makeup chair for five hours a day soon for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. Plus, she could always cameo or make brief appearances in more MCU films, such as Thor: Love and Thunder, which is set to involve the Guardians as well.
Amanda Seyfried’s latest role is playing Marion Davies in David Fincher’s Mank, which is available to stream on Netflix now.
