Guardians Of The Galaxy stars Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista draw more than 1,000 fans to red carpet

Actor Dave Bautista, director James Gunn, and actress Zoe Saldana take a big group selfie with the two emcees and fans from the stage at Shaw House on July 12, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Actor Dave Bautista, director James Gunn, and actress Zoe Saldana take a big group selfie with the two emcees and fans from the stage at Shaw House on July 12, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Actor Dave Bautista, director James Gunn and actress Zoe Saldana greeting fans from the stage at Shaw House on July 12, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Actor Dave Bautista, who plays Drax, takes selfies and signs autographs for fans along the red carpet at Shaw House on July 12, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Director James Gunn gamely takes selfies with fans along the red carpet at Shaw House on July 12, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Actress Zoe Saldana, who plays Gamora, greets and signs autographs for fans along the red carpet at Shaw House on July 12, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Hollywood star Zoe Saldana has walked many red carpets but she has probably never worked harder to look glamorous at such events than in Singapore.

Yet, despite sweltering humid conditions, she did just that at Shaw Lido theatres on Saturday night.

She was in town to promote her upcoming Hollywood superhero blockbuster Guardians Of The Galaxy, along with wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista and director James Gunn.

While the men were sweating buckets, Saldana, 36, seemed to be immune to the hot weather, and looked stunning sashaying down the red carpet.

Getting such a close look at Saldana, who came to fame in Avatar, was worth a long wait for student Brandon Jany, one of more than 1,000 fans who showed up.

The secondary three student said: "I was here since 7am. I'm a Marvel fan. I'm so ecstatic."

Saldana, Bautista, 45, and Gunn, 43, obliged selfies with fans as well as autographed items such as movie posters and even a skateboard.

When the trio took to the stage, Gunn said in jest: "This is the crowd I have outside my house. I'm very used to this."

The gorgeous Saldana revealed that she has been undergoing martial arts training since her Avatar days.

She said: "I was trained in ballet. I was able to kick a lot of things, dancing ballet. It wasn't until I started doing a movie called Avatar that I went through a very ardous training, that made me an absolute fan of martial arts and I've been training ever since."

In the new movie, she takes on the role of Gamora, a deadly green-skinned assassin, while Bautista plays Drax the Destroyer, a brute bent on vengeance.

The two unlikely heroes are part of a quartet of cosmic misfits roped in to help interstellar adventurer Peter Quill (Parks And Recreation's Chris Pratt) save the galaxy from evil forces.

The reserved Bautista said he is slowly growing into his new role as an actor.

"It was a little overwhelming walking onto the set with some of the best actors and director. It was a step outside my comfort zone."

Still, many of fans in the crowd clearly appeared to have followed him since his WWE wrestling days.

One of them is Mr Bernard Ang, 33, an owner of a comic store G&B Comics. He was one of the three lucky Singaporean fans picked to go onstage to present the stars souvenirs.

He said: "I'm a fan of wrestling and Marvel comics. Seeing Dave Bautista in a Marvel movie is the best of both worlds."

Guardians Of The Galaxy opens here in cinemas on July 31.

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