James Gunn Responds To The Controversy Over Karen Gillan’s Shaved Head
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At San Diego Comic-Con a few weeks ago, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy panel was clearly one of the best to grace the Hall H stage over the four-day long event. The studio revealed a ton of information about the upcoming comic book adaptation, including new concept art, costumes, and casting news. One of the biggest surprises at the panel, however, was that actor Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) shaved her head to play one of the film’s villains Nebula, a space pirate with close ties to Gamora. While many were pleased with her new appearance, some of Gillan’s fans are not happy with director James Gunn for “making her” shave off her beautiful red hair.
If you are sending me hate messages about making @KarenGillan2 shave her head, you might consider the overall state of your life.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 24, 2013
Gunn used Twitter to responded to this vocal minority that feels Gillan shouldn’t have shaved her head for the role. In true James Gunn style, he managed to upset even more people with his comments, which led to him taking to his personal Formspring to detail why Gillan shaved her head for the villain role. “It was explained that whoever played Nebula would have to shave her head,” he said. “So Karen knew about this when she auditioned. A bald cap looks fake when seen repeatedly up close & during long action sequences.”
Not a lot of women, or men for that matter, can pull off bald and still look fantastic and sexy, but, lucky for all of us, Karen Gillan is one of them. It’s obvious she knew what the role required of her before she took it, so it shouldn’t be a big deal that she shaved her head. She’s most likely been well compensated, and it’s hair, last time I checked, it grows back.
Excited to announce that after long negotiations to play Chuckie in new Rugrats film, I have now been offered the role of Tommy Pickles.
— Karen Gillan (@karengillan) July 30, 2013
Meanwhile, Gillan and co-star Lee Pace talked to AMC about their respective characters in Guardians of the Galaxy. Gillan said, “Nebula is the villain of the film. She’s an employee of Thanos and she has a very interesting and complex relationship to the lead female of the film, Gamora.” Pace said, “I play Ronan the Accuser, who’s an admiral of Thanos’. I try to hunt down the Guardians.”
Although there is no official plot synopsis, Guardians will center on “a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.” The film has been in production for a few weeks now, so I suspect that we will be seeing the first leaked pictures and footage sometime soon. It’s likely that the trailer could pop up in front of Thor: The Dark World, which hits theaters on November 8th.
Guardians of the Galaxy also stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Benicio del Toro, Michael Rooker, Olivia Lovibond, John C. Reilly, and Glenn Close as Nova Prime. Gunn’s film—he’s writing, directing, and producing—hits theaters everywhere on August 1, 2014.
