After nearly a decade in the franchise, Zoe Saldaña has explained the pros and cons of Marvel’s secrecy surrounding Marvel Cinematic Universe projects. Saldaña first made her MCU debut with 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy as Gamora, the adopted daughter of Josh Brolin’s Thanos who breaks free from his maniacal rule and joins the cosmic superhero team. She would carry on the role through the 2017 sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and is coming back for potentially one final ride with next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
While appearing on the most recent episode of First We Feast‘s Hot Ones series, Zoe Saldaña was asked about the nature of Marvel’s intense security affecting her performances. The Gamora actor acknowledged that there are “advantages and disadvantages” to how the studio handles the secrecy on MCU projects, both which ultimately add up to a “nerve-wracking” experience. See what Saldaña explained below:
When you work for Marvel, it feels like a cult, everybody’s like, “What’s going on? I’m dressed in green after four hours in makeup, we must be shooting something, what is it?” [Laughs] That has advantages and disadvantages, the advantages are you savor the surprise for the end, and you don’t ruin it and the audience is able to have an amazing adventure when they go to the movies to watch it. The disadvantage is mainly for the actor, because you don’t know what you’re getting, you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know what you’re saying, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and that can be a little nerve-wracking.
Does Marvel’s Secrecy Go Too Far?
With the sheer level of spectacle on display in nearly all of their projects, the extent of Marvel’s secrecy has become a point of infamy by now in the film industry. The studio’s desire to keep their biggest reveals under wraps memorably saw both Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo and Spider-Man star Tom Holland get in trouble behind the scenes after inadvertently divulging key elements of their films. Multiple actors within the franchise have expressed sentiments similar to Saldaña, with Eternals stars Salma Hayek and Kit Harington feeling stressed about the potential of revealing too much while Avengers: Endgame‘s Sebastian Stan and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s Michelle Pfeiffer have noted difficulties in connecting to the lack of material presented ahead of time.
Though it can be argued keeping the key secrets under wraps ultimately benefits audiences, as Saldaña notes above, Marvel’s desire for secrecy also often undermines fans’ expectations for their various MCU projects. Their efforts to keep Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s returns for Spider-Man: No Way Home was a talking point for audiences for a brief time period following leaked images of their appearances that helped propel it to becoming the highest-grossing film of 2021. But, some have felt that this focus on keeping the webslingers under wraps took away from the film’s various other major returns, including Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock.
The bigger point sure to ring true for many in Saldaña’s feelings on Marvel’s intense secrecy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that these efforts ultimately takes away some of the spectacle for the actors involved. While many actors still excitedly discuss the possibility of joining the franchise, there are many who also find the structure to be creatively unfulfilling, as the lack of deeper knowledge leaves little room for creative ownership of their characters. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 set to close out James Gunn’s MCU trilogy come May 5, only time will tell whether Saldaña’s time of keeping Marvel’s secrets is over.
Source: First We Feast