Guardians of the Galaxy came out in 2014. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline, it was a part of Phase 2 and came out in between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was a huge success, making $773.3 million worldwide and ending up the third highest-grossing film of the year. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, and Vin Diesel were all already pretty big stars, but audiences really took to them because they had some great chemistry. As it turns out, Guardians almost had a very different member of their ensemble. Amanda Seyfried was originally offered the role of Gamora, which eventually went to Saldaña.
Amanda Seyfried is standing by a call she made to turn down the offer to star as Gamora in Marvel’s blockbuster franchise “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Seyfried opened up about her thought process on the decision on Wednesday’s episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, saying that she “got the offer for it” and even “milled over it for a couple of days.”
“I didn’t want to live in London for six months out of the year, for whatever reason,” she said. “There was another movie that I really wanted to do with Seth MacFarlane called ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West.’ It felt like a really good opportunity.”
Newly minted Oscar-winner Zoe Saldaña famously ended up playing Gamora, the head-to-toe green heroine in the “Guardians” franchise. Saldaña has appeared in all three “Guardians” films, as well as 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
Seyfried had concerns about “being a part of a Marvel movie that bombs,” she said, describing the scenario as something that “ain’t good for your career.”
“I thought that because this was about a talking tree and a talking raccoon that it was going to be Marvel’s first bomb, and that Chris Pratt and I would never work again,” she said. “Well, I was wrong.”
Wrong she was. The three “Guardians” films were hugely successful, drawing over $2 billion globally between 2014 and 2023 at the box office.
Ultimately, Seyfried admitted that she was “way too scared.”
“I was at a precarious moment in my career and I didn’t want to suffer for the work,” she said. “I just didn’t want to do it because I had done some green screen stuff and it wasn’t in my cup of tea. I don’t regret anything, any decision that I made. I made it for myself. In the moment that I made it, it was good for me then and it’s good for me now.”
I’m trying to picture what Guardians would be with Amanda playing Gamora instead of Zoe. I think it would have changed it so much because she and Zoe have completely different acting styles. Zoe and Karen Gillan (Nebula) work really well together, too. I get why Amanda turned it down, especially because she had the luxury of choice. Her instincts about it being a dud were way off base but I wonder if she instinctually just knew that it wasn’t the right part for her. GOTG would have been a totally different franchise with Amanda playing Zoe. I appreciate Amanda’s willingness to talk about the roles that she didn’t get or didn’t take. It’s great for providing behind-the-scenes context.
I watched the first two episodes of Amanda’s new show, Long Bright River. I really like it! I’m so spoiled by shows that drop all at once for you to binge, that I’m super impatient to find out what’s going to happen next. Has anyone read the book? I’m on Libby’s waitlist, but it’s a 15 week wait.
Photos credit: IMAGO/RW/Avalon
Gaurdians of the Galaxy was a lucky hit. Timing was right. Most of the cast had major hits or high profile tv roles so were familiar. The soundtrack was killer at a point when GenX was nostalgic for the 70s. I don’t think I would have been impressed with a script that involved a talking tree and raccoon, either. Weird how the breaks fall sometimes.
I read LBR! it’s good, but her second book The God of the Woods is FANTASTIC. I didn’t realize the show was out already!
funny that she mentioned that MacFarlane movie, because that WAS a bomb.
Thank you for the recommendation! I’ll add The God of the Woods to my Libby queue now!
Well, she’s doing very well for herself regardless. She’s so talented. I watched her perform Joni Mitchell’s “California” on a dulcimer on Jimmy Fallon and was blown away. I don’t care if she is gunning to play JM in a biopic. She’d be perfect IMO and I’m here for it.