Zoe Saldana is sci-fi’s newest leading lady, having scored herself the lead role in two of the most highly-anticipated, big-budget sci-fi flicks of 2009. After taking on the space frontier as Uhura in J.J. Abrams’s remake of “Star Trek,” and playing Neytiri in James Cameron’s ten-years-in-development vision “Avatar,” Saldana recently dished about what is was like to work with two of Hollywood’s most innovative filmmakers – as well as two upcoming movies that seem certain to be out of this world.
“It’s amazing for an actor to work with J.J. and Jim,” Saldana gushed. “They are similar in that they are exquisite at what they do, and they are young at heart.”
When comparing the two A-list directors, Saldana said: “J.J. has made a very important place for himself in Hollywood by being an exquisite writer. And Jim has done the same by being an amazing voyager and visionary, and a great filmmaker.”
Of the Oscar-winning Cameron, Saldana said he is the true Captain Kirk. “He goes where no man has gone before.”
We’ve seen his vision of an indestructible “Terminator” and deadly “Aliens,” and now Cameron is hoping to once again take us into new territory with his top-secret “Avatar.”
The futuristic tale revolves around humans who discover life on another planet in a distant solar system, leading to a war between the two species as they go head-to-head in a battle for survival.
“‘Avatar’ by far is the most physically strenuous film I’ve ever done,” Saldana, no newbie to the biz, admitted. “A role had never challenged me to the point where it freaked me out and scared me. And ‘Avatar’ definitely did that.”
With so much riding on a film that James Cameron has been envisioning since 1997’s “Titanic” but was put on hold for almost a decade due to sky-high production costs, everyone involved seems to have a sense of nervous apprehension. “I really have high hopes for it,” Saldana explained. “Because for two years I gave every bit of me in that part.”
When asked if Saldana had seen the film, she admitted to glimpsing an early cut. “I have, yes,” she revealed, struggling to find words to describe it.
“I can’t curse so I’ll just say it looks nice,” she laughed. “What I really want to say is going to get bleeped out.”
Which Saldana-starring sci-fi flick would you want to watch at this very moment if you had the opportunity to see only one? “Trek” or “Avatar”?
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