Zoe Saldana on Her Character Gamora and Empowering Women

Zoe Saldana on Her Character Gamora and Empowering Women

Every time I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with Zoe Saldana she inspires me. During the Guardians Secret Set Visit trip, she shared great tips about marriage. I couldn’t wait to be able to share her inspiring words with my readers. This trip she talked about her character Gamora and empowering women.

Zoe walked in the room with a big smile on her face ready to sit and talk with us ladies about the film. She sat down and we jumped right in asking about her feelings about the backstory of Gamora and Nebula coming out in Vol. 2.

I loved it. I was very excited, there were three female, you know, characters in this movie, and they all were going to provide, three different essences, you know? Like Mantis just resembles such an innocent creature, and Nebula’s so angry. Shit, she’s so angry. And Gamora is so like, maternal. You know, like, she’s turned over this new leaf. In the first movie, she was so selfish. It was about getting away, and running away from her father.

And now it’s about keeping this family together, you know, and keeping them always on track. So she went the opposite of who she was in the first movie.

No, I never looked at any of them and thought, oh, these are like my kids. I tried but I’m the middle child of three sisters, so I was never the Gamora. Like, my sister Marielle is more the Gamora. Like, she keeps us on track and everything. I was always the fuck up. I was always the one, it’s like, Zoe, focus, focus, I’m like, squirrel! ‘Cause middle kids are sort of, I don’t know, it’s the title that they give you. You don’t take any responsibility, you don’t finish what you start, and you never obey your parents, you know? So, that was me. And, so channeling something in Gamora, I think I was just thinking about my sister.

About the responsibility that she must’ve put upon herself to help my mom raise Cicely and I, my younger sister and I.

During my first interview with Zoe, she talked about how much she enjoyed being able to empower women. She was so excited when she walked in the room with us, it’s one of the first things she said was how much she loves getting to sit with all the mom bloggers and how she just love talking with other women. We asked her how much she loved being able to bring that character strength.

I love it. I do. But I would like to take a break from playing kick ass science fiction females. I’ve been doing it for over 10 years, I’m kind of tired. But growing up, when I was little, I only had two icons that I can reference, and I would watch their, I’d watch those movies until my tape would break. And it was Ellen Ripley from Aliens, and it was Sarah Connor from Terminator. And I would watch these movies endlessly. And then it was like, Jamie Lee Curtis, when Katherine Bigelow did that movie, Blue Steel, and James Cameron also did that movie, True Lies, like, I had her as a reference. But other than that, I was always like, watching action movies told through the eyes of males and stuff, but always feeling that gap, that void, you know?

 And I feel like I did take it upon myself to just be happy with the fact that I took a gamble on these movies for a first time, they ended up being super special, and they went into, into sequels. I didn’t think of this, trust me. It was not my idea. And I just, I had my responsibility to fulfill them. But once I was there, I didn’t want to be better about it. I wanted to acknowledge that maybe, maybe it means something. Maybe it is important that I’m a part of those women that are filling in that gap, so that women can have, I don’t know, more options, more references to look into.

Next we talked about what she wanted little girls to take away from the character Gamora when they see the film. She’s such a strong and independent character there are a few traits for girls to admire in her.

I think that it’s okay to still be vulnerable, and be strong, you know? I think that for some reason, we take it upon ourselves, or where we’re told, that, in, you have, you have to be one thing or the other. And I think that vulnerability is strength, and being strong that means that you have to be vulnerable.

So, I hope young women take that ’cause Gamora, I don’t see Gamora as a strong character. You know, like, I see her as someone that’s tired. Annoyed. And, but she’s very vulnerable.