Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Zoe Saldana's convincing turn as the green-skinned alien assassin Gamora made her an immediate

  • fan favorite in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.

  • And the adopted daughter of Thanos plays a key role in the massive superhero crossover

  • Avengers: Infinity War.

  • It takes a lot of work to transform Saldana from All-American actress to otherworldly

  • badass, and it begins well before she ever sits down in the makeup chair.

  • The Gamora regimen

  • There's always a certain amount of physical preparation involved for a major role in a

  • Marvel film, but to reprise her role as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Saldana

  • had to go a little above and beyond.

  • In November 2014, the actress gave birth to twinsand subsequently dropped 70 pounds

  • after embarking on an exercise regimen that would make Drax cry.

  • She had difficulty bouncing back at first, starting off with simply taking walks, and

  • eventually working up to a brutal routine of squats, planks, lunges and Pilates combined

  • with regular cardio.

  • Although she's 80 percent gluten-free and leans heavily on eggs, vegetables and greens,

  • she insists she doesn't follow a strict diet.

  • As she put it in a 2015 Facebook post,

  • "I am going to remove the word 'diet' from my life.

  • I am going to remind myself that it is not about losing weight, it is about being healthy,

  • feeling healthy, for the rest of my life."

  • Head on

  • Saldana famously played another colorful alien in 2009's Avatar, but in that case, she got

  • off easy, since her entire character was digitally rendered.

  • So it may have come as a bit of a surprise to Saldana the first time the makeup department

  • working on Guardians of the Galaxy told her that they'd need to make a full cast of her

  • head.

  • The procedure looks pretty grueling, especially if you're claustrophobic.

  • No CGI required

  • The head-cast allows effects artists exercise great attention to detail when designing Gamora's

  • facial "appliances" and makeup.

  • This is necessary because, in contrast with her Avatar role, there are exactly zero computer

  • generated elements to Gamora.

  • According to Guardians 2 makeup designer David White, prosthetics made from silicone are

  • sculpted for her cheeks and forehead, the latter of which gives her a new brow line.

  • The pieces take two to three hours to apply, and about 30 to 45 minutes to remove.

  • Her prosthetic forehead actually has a "scalp" piece that runs underneath her wigthat's

  • right, she also has to wear a wigso that even the edge of her hairline and her part

  • line are green.

  • Of course, the prosthetics are only the beginning.

  • Five hour job

  • As with any paint job, Saldana gets multiple complete coats of primer before makeup artists

  • get down to the business of greening her up completely.

  • A green base comes after the primer, followed by three more layers which are airbrushed

  • on.

  • This is done to get as close possible to a natural tone.

  • It all meant a grueling five hours in the makeup chair for the first Guardians film,

  • but only four hours for the follow-up

  • "We shaved off an hour from the first movie, so I appreciate that, um ..."

  • Label check

  • Surprisingly, virtually all of the brands used to turn Saldana into Gamora are mainstream,

  • commercially available products.

  • White and his team seem to be particularly fond of M.A.C., a popular brand that's used

  • for both the initial layer of primer and for the green base that's applied before the airbrushing

  • begins.

  • Products from Skin Illustrator and Aqua are used for the airbrush job, and her eyeshadow

  • is a careful blend of several M.A.C. products.

  • Her nail polish is from Sinful Colours, and her green lipstick is from high-end brand

  • Kryolan.

  • Not easy being green

  • Of course, it took a great deal of time and consideration to arrive at the right shade

  • of green for a character that would also be spending a lot of time in front of green and

  • blue screens.

  • White and his team needed tons of tests to nail down the right tone, and then were tasked

  • with using their array of products to faithfully recreate that exact tone day after day for

  • the duration of the shootone he describes as "multilayered" with at least three complementary

  • tones running through it, in addition to Saldana's natural skin tone.

  • If it all seems like a lot of trouble, well, it isbut if Marvel Studios wants us to

  • believe that a raccoon can talk, then it's certainly not about to cut corners to convince

  • us that a stunning alien assassin can be green.

  • Thanks for watching!

  • Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

  • Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!

Zoe Saldana's convincing turn as the green-skinned alien assassin Gamora made her an immediate

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it