Karen Gillan had to constantly dodge falling centipedes while filming ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’.
The 30-year-old actress stars as Ruby Roundhouse in the sequel to the 1995 Robin Williams’ classic and admitted the worst part of filming in the Hawaiian jungle was the carnivorous arthropods which would drop from the trees.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Gillan said: "It was so much rehearsal. I was training every single day: martial arts, basic punching and kicking and then learning how to dance, which was totally foreign to me. But the worst part was the centipedes in the jungle. They would fall from trees at any given moment so you were never safe. It was horrible. I had to up my calorie intake. It was never about losing weight, it was about gaining muscle and becoming stronger, which I think was really cool actually. It felt good."
Last year, when her character was unveiled wearing impractical short-shorts and a crop top compared to her fully clothed male co-stars it caused a Twitter storm amongst fans, but Gillan insists in the context of the fantasy film her sexy outfit makes perfect sense.
The former ‘Doctor Who’ star said: "To be honest, I do not see that whole uproar as a negative thing at all. I think that everybody had a fair point, which is that when you look at that picture out of context it’s absurd. But that is what we’re highlighting. It was a trope in Nineties video games to turn the female characters into ridiculous male fantasies. And they are scantily clad. To have people talk about it in that way is a really good conversation to be having and I’m glad it’s at the forefront of people’s discussions."
Gillan stars alongside Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Nick Jonas and Jack Black in the new movie by Jake Kasdan.
Karen Gillan had to dodge centipedes while filming Jumanji
