Zoe Saldaña is very proud of her role in Guardians of the Galaxy

The actress doesn’t like herself much in the last Avengers, but with James Gunn, it’s different.

Variety publishes a long portrait of Zoe Saldana in which the actressEmilia Perez explains why she wanted “break your franchise circle” arrived at 40 years old. Of course, she retains one of the key roles in the saga Avatarby James Cameron, since she signed to participate in the five opuses planned by the filmmaker, but she recently said goodbye to Gamora at Marvel. As for its future in Star Trekit is quite blurry.

During this interview, the actress reveals not liking yourself too much Avengers: Endgame. She details:

“I wish I could go back and do what Gamora went through in the Avengers movies. Because I didn’t really understand what the Russo brothers were doing at the time and where they were going with it. I wish I could go back and do it again so I could push this storyline a little further, because it was a great opportunity to play a girl with daddy issues. To explore this opportunity to reconcile, heal, repair or simply move away from this person. It would have been a great opportunity to play out those feelings… except I didn’t quite understand it that way at the time.”

Saldaña, on the other hand, takes advantage of this career interview to recall all the love she has for Gamora, and in particular in the trilogy Guardians of the Galaxyby James Gunn.

Zoe Saldaña says goodbye to Guardians of the Galaxy: “I signed for a film, I had it for ten years”

“Gamora, she was really fun to play, she explains. And it had some depth. Okay, I know it’s a Marvel movie and we don’t use words ‘deep’ And ‘Marvel’ in the same sentence, normally, but I want to do it anyway. Because I take great pride in having been part of these films which had such a particular resonance with a young audience.

James Gunn really designed something special, he completely broke out of the mold of superhero films, of what we expect from this genre. He saw the possibility of talking about strong subjects: childhood trauma, disabilities, psychological suffering… He gave his characters enough space so that they could discover love, and the love of oneself in particular. Love for others too, the idea of ​​founding one’s ‘family’ with his closest friends. When I look back, I see how important these films were, anyway.”

Evoking his desire to always do better, Saldaña also confides his doubts:

“I can’t help but want to go back to play Gamora or Uhura better. Yet I think… (she pauses). I think I did things right, but I could have done more, you know? This is how I operate.

Maybe it’s related to my own challenges? I had to overcome learning difficulties, I suffered from dyslexia and anxiety, and that could have blocked me, prevented me from going for lots of roles… that I know I could have done , basically.”

She then thanks Jacques Audiard and Taylor Sheridan (behind the series Lioness) for giving him the opportunity to give his all in very different roles. On the series, she says for example that she “memorized, memorized, memorized, in order to arrive on set ready as for a ballet, and for my character to be an extension of myself.”

Trained in dance in her youth, she adds:

“At a certain point, my brain associated this work on words with a parfait, a pas de deux. I said to myself: ‘Oh, okay, so a grand jet is the equivalent of a Taylor Sheridan monologue.’ The worst thing he could do to me was change a scene at the last minute or add dialogue. So there, I panicked: ‘Wait, wait, wait, this is dyslexia 2.0, this is the next step.’“

Zoe finally said goodbye to Gamora in Vol. 3 of Guardians…, but if she does not intend to return to play this heroine at Marvel, she would love a young actress to succeed her, to continue to enrich her, to help her evolve.

“Let a little half-breed play Gamora, she concludes. Give this opportunity to a woman of color to see what new Gamora will bring. Like me, I was able to embody Nyota Uhura in my own way, with the support of Nichelle Nichols.”

Emilia Perez: Audiard surprises, amazes and delights (review)