Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 stars Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff first bonded as fellow MCU aliens, Nebula and Mantis, but also as two of the few Guardians who could regularly socialize after work. Neither actor had families to tend to during filming, so they could explore Atlanta’s karaoke scene for all it had to offer.
It’s been a whirlwind for Gillan, Klementieff and the rest of the Guardians cast due to writer-director James Gunn’s dramatic exit from the film, followed by his triumphant return less than a year later. So it’s fitting that the final chapter for this iteration of Guardians is also an emotional journey.
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“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Gillan tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We shot it a year ago, and it was still such an emotional rollercoaster. I was crying hysterically and then I was laughing hysterically, and I would just alternate between those emotions.”
Klementieff’s Mantis has an array of powers such as mind control and the ability to induce sleep, but most importantly, she has the power to sense other people’s feelings and emotions. And while it may seem like an overwhelming talent to have, the French actor believes the world at large would greatly benefit if it was more like Mantis.
“Nowadays, in the world we live in, there are a lot of people who lack empathy, especially politicians,” Klementeif says with a laugh. “So it’s a beautiful thing to remind people that it’s very important to be empathetic towards each other.”
In the marketing for Guardians 3, there’s a compelling image of Nebula carrying what appears to be an incapacitated Peter “Star-Lord” Quill (Chris Pratt), and to create the visual, a disturbingly lifelike doll of Pratt’s character was fabricated.
“It was so creepy,” Gillan shares. “It had pores. It had fuzzies that a human has on their skin. It was that lifelike, and obviously, jokes ensued.”
Klementieff adds: “It was so real that I could barely look at it. We wanted to shoot some funny, weird videos, and then we were like, ‘We can’t do that because it looks too real.’”
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Gillan and Klementieff can’t help but wonder where the Peter Quill doll is now.
So what was the more emotional day: the first day back after everything that happened or your last days on set?
Pom Klementieff: The last days for sure.
Karen Gillan: Yeah, it was pretty tough to get through those final moments and having to face the reality of saying goodbye.
Klementieff: Yeah, it was tough, but it was such a beautiful scene.
Did the two of you first bond in the makeup trailer while getting your individual prosthetics applied?
Klementieff: I mean, yes.
Gillan: Kind of, yeah!
Klementieff: But also, when we weren’t shooting, we would just hang out and grab drinks and food and sing karaoke.
Gillan: When Pom joined the cast, it was like, “Yes!” because we’re a similar age.
Klementieff: And we don’t have kids, so it was easier.
Gillan: Yeah! We’re in a different chapter of our lives compared to the others, and so we were able to party!
Klementieff and Gillan: (Laugh.)
The two of you read this script together years ago and you’ve both said that you cried together. Did the actual movie hit you both even harder?
Klementieff: Oh my God, the movie is so heartbreaking and so beautiful and so deep.
Gillan: Yeah, I saw it for the first time at the premiere in L.A. two nights ago, and I can’t stop thinking about it. And I watched it fairly objectively because there was some distance. We shot it a year ago, and it was still such an emotional rollercoaster. I was crying hysterically and then I was laughing hysterically, and I would just alternate between those emotions. It was such an emotional ride.
Klementieff: Yeah, it was so beautiful to tell Rocket’s story and all the trauma that he’s been through. All the characters shine in their own way, and it’s such a beautiful arc for each character. It really feels magical.
Pom, Mantis can do many things, but most of all, she can feel someone else’s pain, which seems like quite a burden. Our own pain can sometimes be too much. So do you consider her powers to be more of a curse than a blessing?
Klementieff: Oh, it’s a beautiful power to have, and nowadays, in the world we live in, there are a lot of people who lack empathy, especially politicians. (Laughs.) So it’s a beautiful thing to show and to remind people that it’s very important to be empathetic towards each other.
Are you an empath as well?
Klementieff: Yes, of course, but I think all actors are in some ways. We have to be.
Gillan: It’s true. It’s definitely a trait that most of us share in order to understand people.
Karen, I know you worked with alternate Gamora a little bit on Avengers: Endgame, but did it still take a minute to get used to this new version that Zoe Saldana was playing? Nebula and Gamora’s dynamic is quite different now.
Gillan: Yeah, it did take a little bit of adjusting, just because I have come to know Gamora very well and to be a certain way. And now she’s a very different version of the character, but I thought that [Zoe’s] performance injected it with so much life, because it was so different. So I love this version of Gamora. She’s really badass, and she’s just willing to do these crazy things in crazy situations, which makes her a bit unpredictable as a character. So I quite enjoyed that.
Nebula has more advanced weaponry in this film …
Gillan: Yeah, she’s got a new arm courtesy of Rocket. It is so cool and it basically does everything that anyone needs at any given time. (Laughs.) It turns into all sorts of things.
Klementieff: Does it open doors?
Gillan: (Laughs.) It could open doors.
Klementieff: It explodes doors! Boom!
Gillan: Yeah, it can turn into a hair dryer, but Nebula doesn’t need that.
Klementieff and Gillan: (Laugh.)
Of all the action set pieces, was the “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” sequence the most challenging one for the two of you?
Gillan: Oh yeah!
Klementieff: It starts with that slow-motion walk that is cool.
Gillan: We loved to do that walk!
Klementieff: That was really amazing to shoot in the new costume, and yeah, the fight scene was very technical, but so amazing. And the stunt team and the camera department were incredible. Everyone had to be in sync to make it perfect.
Gillan: The camera operator was on wires and flying around.
Klementieff: It took some time to get it right, but once we got it right, it was such a relief.
Gillan: I had to fight while all of my bones were broken. I’ll just leave you with that.
Klementieff: You did it for real, right?
Gillan: Yeah, it broke all my bones.
Klementieff and Gillan: (Laugh.)
Karen, do you have a bad back from carrying “Chris Pratt”?
Gillan: Oh my God. I don’t, because I’ll confess that it wasn’t Chris. It was a doll of Chris.
Klementieff: It looked exactly like him.
Gillan: It was so creepy.
Klementieff: It looked like he was dead. It was very, very scary.
Gillan: It was that lifelike even though it was dead-looking.
Klementieff: It was so real that I could barely look at it.
Gillan: It had pores. It had fuzzies that a human has on their skin. It was that lifelike, and obviously, jokes ensued.
Klementieff: Yeah, it was creepy. We wanted to shoot some funny, weird videos, and then we were like, “You know what? We can’t do that because it looks too real.”
Klementieff and Gillan: (Laugh.)
Klementieff: We don’t know where it is now. That’s the problem.
Gillan: Someone’s got it in their bedroom.
Klementieff: Yeah, that might be true. Not me. Is it you?
Gillan: What? No! Don’t look at me like that. Of course, it’s not me! My husband would have some questions about why I have a doll of [Chris] in my bedroom.
Klementieff and Gillan: (Laugh.)
Karen, in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, did Nebula steal Bucky’s (Sebastian Stan) actual arm? Did she ask Wakanda to make another one? Or did she get a replica via the black market?
Gillan: She took it off of him with sheer brute force. She wanted to get Rocket a nice gift, and she thought that would be a really good one. He’s had his eye on that arm, and does Bucky really need it?
Klementieff: (Laughs.) I just want to see Bucky in the next movies with one arm.
Gillan: Armless and hating Nebula.
Pom, have you told Karen all of your Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning secrets?
Klementieff: Oh my God, I told her some of the secrets.
Gillan: I am the bearer of some juicy secrets.
Klementieff and Gillan: (Laugh.)
Did you both enjoy mocking your profession in the Holiday Special?
Gillan: Absolutely!
Klementieff: It was my favorite part. I loved it so much.
Gillan: We should be mocked at all times.
Klementieff: Yes, I loved it so much, because throughout my career and life as an actor, I’ve met people who take themselves very seriously and I can’t stand it. So it was enjoyable to say those lines.
Decades from now, when you reunite for the anniversary of this movie, what day will you remind each other of first?
Klementieff: Oh my God, we have so many memories. It’s hard to pinpoint a particular one.
Gillan: It’s just all the little moments where we connected as human beings.
Klementieff: Yeah, when we would laugh and make fun of each other and be goofballs.
Gillan: Yeah, especially because we were all dressed as aliens. It’s actually so funny because we forget we’re dressed as aliens half the time. I don’t even notice, and that must look really weird from the outside.
Klementieff: Yeah, I like to touch my antennas a little bit. It was so cute with all the little kids on set. I was like, “Do you wanna touch my antennas?” And they were like, “Yes!”
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5th. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
