Zoe Saldana’s first blockbuster grossed over $654 million worldwide, but filming 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” was far from a Hollywood dream come true for the “Star Trek” actress.
“I left that experience feeling a little bitter,” she told Cosmopolitan. Referring to the “super elitist” set, she described “dealing with a lot of people who were great and a lot of people who were not so great,” and feeling that her time and contributions weren’t valued. “If I’m like, ‘I could have been with my family, in school learning, or travelling, but instead I’m here being treated like an extra but in a very despicable way by people who don’t even speak properly…,’ my time is being wasted,” she revealed.
Saldana was “dangerously close to quitting the industry” before her next gig, Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal,” offered her a wildly difference experience — one where she was made to feel respected.
The “Avatar” star spoke passionately about how to move forward in the wake of #MeToo and #TimesUp. “I don’t want to go back to that,” she said, seemingly referencing her time on “Pirates” and the climate of the industry back then. “I don’t want to hear another man tell me, ‘Oh you were my muse’. I don’t want to be your fucking muse anymore. I don’t want you to just post me on your wall and look at me. I want you to listen to me!”
Saldana observed, “The high road for a woman for centuries was silence … The new high road is speaking up.”
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” actress has previously spoken up about being denied child care by a studio. “The tone changed in the negotiations. I was starting to feel that I was … difficult,” she recalled. But she rejected the notion that babysitting should be “considered a perk,” and refused to feel like she was “having a diva fit”: “No. This is a necessity that you must cover for me in order for me to go and perform my job,” she told the execs. Her request was eventually granted.
Saldana has also criticized the rampant sexism and ageism in Hollywood. “When men — producers — say, ‘You’re old,’ to me that is the most laughable, fucking ridiculous thing a moron could ever say,” she said. “By the time you’re 28 you’re expired, you’re playing mommy roles,” she explained. “We’re not the ones putting ourselves in those places. We’re allowing ourselves to be put in those positions. I just won’t allow it.”
Saldana can currently be seen in “I Kill Giants,” a fantasy film about a girl who escapes the harsh realities of being bullied at school by committing herself to a magical world where she’s a hero — a world where she finds, hunts, and kills giants. The pic is in theaters and available on VOD.
