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 twins — and 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 wig — that's
right, she also has to wear a wig — so 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 shoot — one 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 is — but 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.
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