Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2

American screenwriter James Gunn narrates an action packed Zoe Saldana scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in this episode of New York Times Anatomy of a Scene.

Anatomy of a Scene gives directors the opportunity to take the audience through a scene from their film, providing interesting tidbits of information. With an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s no wonder fans may want a quick walk through of this Marvel flick with the director himself. Gunn refers to this Zoe Saldana scene as North by Northwest, referencing Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic 1959 crop duster scene.

Saldana’s character, Gamora (or Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) is known for her superhuman strength and impeccable hand-to-hand combat abilities. She can also heal herself at an accelerated speed. Gunn says he saw actor The Rock in a scene from Fast and Furious 7 where he held and fired a massive gun, and wanted to one-up it with Zoe Saldana.

Another fascinating takeaway from this visually captivating scene is the fact that Gunn envisioned the scene before he ever wrote a single word. The storyboards were drawn before he ever, “put pen to paper,” as he puts it.