The Guardians are back for one last adventure in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 this May and to celebrate, we sat down to find out Five Things with Pom Klementieff who plays Mantis…
She loved working on the GOTG Holiday Special
The Guardians of the Galaxy had their very own Holiday Special in 2022, which had our favourite dynamic duo of Drax and Mantis heading to Earth to find a very special Christmas present for Peter (we’re not sure he was expecting that present to be Kevin Bacon).
“I had so much fun working on the holiday special because I got to be the weirdest I’ve ever been!” Klementieff tells us. “To kidnap Kevin Bacon and to have so much fun with Dave Batista as Drax. It was so goofy, it was crazy.”
Guardians Vol 2 changed her life
Pom Klementieff first appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 back in 2017. The role changed her life and she tells us she remembers fondly about creating the character of Mantis with Guardians director James Gunn.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 was of course my first experience, my first time working with James,” she remembers. “I have really fond memories of that because it changed my life and it was just the beginning.”
Guardians of the Galaxy is her favourite Marvel movie
Klementieff has been a fan of Guardians of The Galaxy since before she came on board with the movies… “James Gunn’s talent is to be able to have such a perfect balance between emotion and comedy and action,” she says. “And you care about all the characters. I remember when I saw the first movie, I fell in love with it, and it became my favourite superhero movie, my favourite Marvel movie. I just loved all the characters so much.”
She hopes that going into Rocket’s backstory will open audiences’ empathy for animals
“It’s so amazing to get to know more about Rocket’s backstory and his trauma,” says Klementieff.
Yep, we finally discover Rocket’s origins in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, back to when he was experimented on for scientific purposes by The High Evolutionary (played by Chukwudi Iwuji).
Klementieff hopes that audiences “enjoy the movie and it touches their heart and it just opens their vision and their empathy for other people and for animals too”.
It was emotional getting back together with her Guardians family
“It was so emotional to be back together after all the journeys we’ve been through,” Klementieff tells us. “We were supposed to not make the movie at some point and then we got back together and the story was so beautiful.”
Indeed, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 almost didn’t happen after Guardians Vol 1 and 2 dirctor James Gunn was fired from Vol. 3 after a series of controversial Tweets resurfaced. However, after the cast of the movies rallied around him, Gunn was brought back on board and here we are! Well, six years later here we are, though Klementieff explains that that time period has just made the characters closer.
“All the characters have such a deeper bond with each other and the arc of the characters that threads the movies is so beautiful. To be able to really know that more throughout the movies, it makes the third movie so much more powerful and so much more like ‘oh my God, I hope everything is gonna be okay for all of them!’
“I can’t wait for the audience to watch it. I saw the movie twice and I loved it so much. I want to watch it a third time. Usually when I’m in a movie I don’t want to watch it several times, but this one is really special.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 arrives on 5 May 2023.
