Zoe Saldaña says ‘Emilia Pérez’ liberated’ her

Zoe Saldaña has a history of working in hit franchises. But Emilia Pérez said the film helped her break free from her boundaries.

During an interview with THR’s Actress Roundtable, the Avatar actress said, “I fell into this pattern of being on autopilot constantly. I was a part of really successful films that became franchises, and I have no regrets.”

“They gave me so much. But they’re very time-consuming. And this is all happening while I’m starting a family. So that desire to grow, to shatter whatever glass ceiling I felt like I was falling under, was growing more and more as the years went by,” she continued.

So when she opted for Emilia Pérez, which has already received several nominations in the award season, Zoe said, “I went all in. I felt her spirit, and I felt that a lot more people were going to find themselves in Rita.”

The 46-year-old played Rita in the Audiard musical, and she described her character as a “true gift” that allowed her to “reconnect” with parts of herself.

“As a New Yorker, you’re born with jazz hands, and then you spend your whole life un-jazzing your hands,” the Marvel star said. “I remember being a child and walking by Lincoln Center, and [my grandmother] would go, ‘Look, look, look,’ while she was smoking her cigarette, like, ‘One day, one day you’re going to be there.’ 

“And I remember thinking like, ‘What is she saying?’ And then it’s very beautiful when things come full circle,” Zoe concluded.