We’re about to celebrate a Collider Ladies Night first; Karen Gillan is officially the show’s first returning guest! Back in December 2019 when she made her first appearance, we put a heavy emphasis on her run in the Jumanji franchise, her work behind the lens and her love of horror movies. This time around, however, we’re highlighting her upcoming Netflix release, Gunpowder Milkshake, and leaning a bit more into the Marvel of it all.
Gillan’s been playing Nebula, the daughter of Thanos (Josh Brolin) and the sister of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), for eight years now. It all began when she made her MCU debut in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. While that movie certainly did tease the tension and dark history between Nebula and Gamora, it largely painted the character as a henchwoman to Thanos. Cut to 2019 and Nebula’s a standout heroic force in one of the highest grossing movies of all time, Avengers: Endgame. Her run in the MCU thus far has already conveyed a significant and highly successful arc for the character, something that will hopefully continue when Nebula makes her next appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder.
It’s not every day you get to develop a character with three different film directors, all of whom have such strong and distinct styles, so while chatting about Nebula’s growth from film to film, Gillan took the time to highlight each director’s contribution to the character, beginning with the one who started it all, James Gunn:
“I think a lot of the reason that Nebula is the way she is is because of James Gunn. He’s the sort of creator of her and I think he really connected with the character personally. I remember when we would do scenes between me and Gamora, he’d be like crying in the rehearsals and stuff. He’s so invested. So it’s largely down to him, I would say.”
After two movies with Gunn, it was time for Gillan and the rest of the Guardians cast to work with new directors, Joe and Anthony Russo. Yes, the duo did have loads of MCU experience, but there were still some nerves about playing their Guardians characters for anyone but Gunn. Here’s how Gillan put it:
“I think we all, in the Guardians cast, were like, ‘Ah! Oh my gosh, we’re going off and we’re gonna do this character without James. How are we gonna cope? Are we gonna still know how to do this?’ But the Russos were amazing, and they kind of just really allowed us to bring our knowledge of the characters to it. They were so receptive to it. I would sort of be able to say to the Russos, ‘I feel like [if] Thanos is in the scene, Nebula would be feeling very emotional right now if her father is there.’ And they’re like, ‘Yup. Yup,’ and then they completely used that, and it’s completely in the movie, which was really nice.”
Another major perk that came with filming with the Russo brothers? Joe Russo was also a scene partner for Gillan:
“Joe Russo played Thanos with me, so I was acting with the director, which was amazing because he really was in the scene with me and so he was seeing things that were happening between us that I don’t think he would see from the outside. And so he was kind of like, ‘Oh! I know how to shoot this because this is what’s happening.’ So that was a really cool experience.”
That brings us to Thor: Love and Thunder director, Taika Waititi, and if you know even the tiniest bit about his filmography (or his interviews for that matter), Gillan’s new descriptor for Nebula probably won’t come as much of a surprise:
“And then Taika really brought out the bonkers side. I think everyone is just really, really funny and bonkers and wild.”
Gillan also took a moment to clarify that “bonkers” doesn’t necessarily mean Nebula is deliberately playing into the humor of it all:
“I don’t know if it’s personal [levity]. Like I don’t think she's finding herself funny or being funny, but in her seriousness I think we will find her funny, and just the pure aggression that we’ve tapped into.”
Looking for more from Gillan on her time in the MCU and beyond? Stay tuned because we’ll have so much more from her second Collider Ladies Night conversation leading up to the July 14th release of Gunpowder Milkshake!