A Marvel secret is highly coveted among its fans. We wait years to be surprised and delighted by them in theaters and streaming, and the studio behind it certainly takes that seriously behind the scenes. We’ve heard the stories; actors have reportedly been barred from scripts, moved from sets in cloaks and so forth. Guardians of the Galaxy’s Zoe Saldaña recently spoke about her experience to Marvel security, and it sounds like it lives up to its reputation.
While guesting on Hot Ones, Zoe Saldaña, who has the honor of being in four Marvel movies thus far, along with the upcoming Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3., the actress was asked about how “paranoid” she’s seen movie studios be to protect movie secrets. Here’s how she responded:
Wait a minute, have you been to a Marvel set? Sounds like you have. I mean, when you work for Marvel it's just everything, it feels like a cult, you're like, 'What's going on?' Like I'm dressed in green for hours in makeup, we must be shooting something.
Now even that answer is vague, but goes to show even actors on the inside like Zoe Saldaña find Marvel Studios' ways are a bit cultish. The commitment to keeping all the secrets just so we won’t know what a character’s new suit looks like or that a certain cameo is coming is certainly amazing. The actress continued, saying this:
The advantages are that you savor the surprise for the end and you don't ruin it and the audience is able to have an amazing adventure when they go to the movies to watch it. The disadvantage is mainly for the actor because you don't know what you're doing, you don't know where you're going, you don't know what you're saying, you don't know what's gonna happen, and that can be a little nerve-racking.
On other projects, actors get to see entire scripts and all the actors on set, and then tell their friends about their experiences on set. But on a Marvel movie or TV show, sometimes they only know their lines, don’t even know who they are sharing a scene with and may be sworn to not tell another soul what they shot that day. It’s wild, but it’s also how we all walked out of Avengers: Infinity War with our jaws dropped as to how our favorite heroes were suddenly dusted. That is… if you didn’t check the internet and went on opening weekend.
While comments recently went viral regarding Zoe Saldaña saying she felt “stuck” artistically being on franchises, she’s recently gone back on the comments, calling her work in big franchises like Marvel has made her the “luckiest girl in town.” Saldaña is the only actress to be part of the two highest-grossing movies of all time, Avatar and Avengers: Endgame. Her latest movie is Avatar: The Way of Water, in theaters now. You can check out our exclusive interviews with Zoe Saldaña and the cast of Avatar 2 here on CinemaBlend.
