Karen Gillan is just what the Doctor ordered

Scotland is currently doing itself proud.

I’ve been watching the Commonwealth Games from here in Los Angeles and everything back home looks great. Put it this way, they must be doing something right if you’re cheering on an athlete in a sport you’d barely even heard of last week.

One thing I hope these Games does for Scotland is inject it with a bit of pride there’s plenty to be chuffed about.

While Scots athletes are lifting gold, one of our actresses is forging her own success story over here.

The gorgeous Karen Gillan left Doctor Who in 2012 to pursue a movie career I wonder if she ever thought she’d be propelled straight into a summer blockbuster like Guardians of the Galaxy.

I got a chance to speak to the Inverness lass last week out here in Hollywood. So how is she coping going from the Tardis to a glitzy premiere?

“This is an odd sensation for me,” she explained. “I’ve never been to a premiere of this scale before. It’s all very exciting. This is crazy. It just feels so far-fetched, I can’t believe we’re here there are people shouting our names!

“I didn’t plan this. It was part of the dream, but I didn’t think it was part of the reality!”

Remember last year when Karen had her head shaved? Well that was for her role as Nebula in this sci-fi action comedy. When we met, her hair looked remarkably like mine she said we were matching.

I replied that my hair colour was natural. At least, that’s what it said on the bottle.

My battles with a bottle of Grecian 2000 are nothing in comparison to what Karen had to go through to get into the alien skin of villain Nebula.

“It took about five hours every day to get into make-up, but it was worth it,” Karen said. “I learned how to meditate it was very exciting.

“It’s a bit strange sitting there for five hours and having glue put on your face but then it became normal and part of the experience!”

It’s fair to say Guardians of the Galaxy isn’t your typical summer blockbuster. Two of the heroes are a tree and a talking raccoon. No, I’m not joking. It sounds a wee bit like Wind in the Willows crossed with The Empire Strikes Back.

The Rocket Raccoon character is voiced by Hangover star Bradley Cooper. Surely playing a rodent was never part of his career plan?

“I could only dream of it,” he laughed. “I just liked Rocket’s whole view on life and how his empathetic character eventually wins over the anger.”

An angry raccoon sounds a bit daft, but Guardians of the Galaxy is actually great fun, and it should do well at the box office. And Hollywood needs this to be a success.

What do Transformers 4, Godzilla, X-Men, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have in common?

Well, three things the first is they’re all this year’s Hollywood summer blockbusters.

The second is that none of them, so far, have done particularly well at the box office.

None have massively flopped either, but there’s been no standout runaway successes such as Avengers Assemble, or Despicable Me 2 have been in the past few years.

The third thing in common is that all of these films are either sequels or remakes. It’s become standard practice these days for Hollywood to play it safe and go for a tried and tested franchise or a reboot of a recognisable character.

The studio money men generally don’t like gambling and who could blame them when it comes to spending £100 million to make a movie?

This is what makes Guardians of the Galaxy such a fascinating punt. The concept is a gang of bounty hunters in outer space so it’s fairly daft. But it’s got razor-sharp comedy crossed with stunning action. They really have managed to pull off an interesting movie with this one.

And I’m just surprised Marvel have managed to get a decent film out of yet another one of their comics.

There’s hope for The Broons Movie yet!