Many, many actors have joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in one capacity or another, but one of the few holdouts is Amanda Seyfriend. The Mean Girls actress has now revealed, though, that James Gunn offered her the role of Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, but she turned it down.
“I was really scared of the idea of being stuck and painted a different color because of the amount of time [it takes],” Seyfried said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “It was a giant opportunity. I had just met James in person. He is wonderful. Apparently someone said he didn’t remember but it’s definitely true. I definitely got the offer for it and I mulled over it for a couple days. I didn’t want to live in London for six months out of the year. There was another movie I really wanted to do with Seth MacFarlane called A Million Ways to Die in the West. It felt like a good opportunity.”
“Let’s also remember that being a part of the first Marvel movie that bombs ain’t good for your career,” she continued. “I thought that because this was about a talking tree and a talking raccoon that it would be Marvel’s first bomb and me and Chris Pratt would never work again. I was wrong! But I was just being smart. It’s not brave.”
Seyfried admitted that she was ultimately too scared to take on the part, but now knows that that was the wrong call. Guardians went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2014 at the box office, and spawned a successful franchise.
“I was at a precarious moment in my career and I didn’t want to suffer for the work,” Seyfried explained of the makeup process. “Sitting there for four-and-a-half hours every morning seemed like it wasn’t going to be fun. I had done some green screen stuff and it wasn’t my best or my cup of tea then. I don’t regret anything. I made that decision for myself. It was good for me then and it was good for me now.”
