Zoe Saldana is taking a moment.
The busy actress, enjoying a rare afternoon at her Los Angeles home, is pinning family photos to the fridge and catching up on reading in her sunroom overlooking the Hollywood Hills. “I love walking into my house. Even if I’ve been away for a month or just for the day working … my house has become such a sanctuary for me.”
She’s been out of the house a lot lately. Best known for her role as the Na’vi warrior princess in Avatar, the actress has had a jam-packed but “magical” year filming the sequel to Star Trek; then Out of the Furnace with Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson; and Blood Ties with Marion Cotillard and Mila Kunis. A Nina Simone biopic is reportedly waiting in the wings.
But first out is The Words, the story of a writer who finds a forgotten manuscript and publishes it as his own. Saldana’s rumoured on-again, off-again love interest Bradley Cooper plays the writer, Rory, and Saldana his wife Dora.
“I don’t want to allow another person,
a community, a nation, doctrine, religion, political amendment
to define who I am or who I should be.
I will never be ruled by anybody but myself.
I have never been that way; I follow my own way,”
The film explores how men search for identity and self-worth through power, a topic that intrigued Saldana. “I see it so much in men. Even though they might not think they are going after power, they are. They depend so much on it, they don’t feel like they are man enough when they … haven’t sold their books or don’t own a Fortune 500 company. All they have to do is see themselves through the eyes of the woman who loves them, and they are man enough, they always have been.”
Over the phone Saldana speaks quickly and eloquently, breaking off only for the snatched mouthfuls of a late lunch or a Spanish directive to her visiting mother. She doesn’t appear to be someone who would ever suffer from an identity crisis, and while she’ll admit she’s not immune to the pressures of Hollywood, her sense of self is firmly intact. “I don’t want to allow another person, a community, a nation, doctrine, religion, political amendment to define who I am or who I should be. I will never be ruled by anybody but myself. I have never been that way; I follow my own way,” she says firmly.
Undoubtedly that self-possession comes from being part of a family of “very opinionated and strongminded women”. She laughs when I ask what that was like growing up. “My mom, even though she’s empathetic, has a hard time giving you permission to feel sorry for yourself. She’ll be as supportive as she can [but on] the third day, she’ll be like: ‘Stop crying, get up, stop being ridiculous. Yes, your heart’s broken, get over it. Go buy yourself a pair of red shoes and go dancing.’” Invariably, Saldana admits, she’s right. “You’ll end up buying yourself the hottest pair of red shoes and while you’re dancing, you’re like: ‘That little lady was right.’”
Born in New Jersey, Saldana, her two sisters and just-widowed mother moved to the Dominican Republic to live with her grandparents when she was 10 years old. It was a tough time, not least because the three girls were bullied for being foreign. “The hardest years of your life will be trying to survive school if you’re not one of those popular people,” she says steadily.
But there were also moments of “sheer happiness”, as she was surrounded by family and could embrace her heritage. “We got to know what it was like to grow up in a very simple way. Instead of going to McDonald’s and watching MTV, we were going to the countryside and visiting family who owned farms and animals. Running in the sun barefoot, chasing lizards, doing our homework in a tree.”
Part of that Latin culture was dance and Saldana recalls Sunday afternoons at her grandmother’s house dancing with the family. “Latinos have such a passionate, fiery culture,” she says with a laugh. “When we cook, we cook with passion. When we fight, we fight with passion. When we love, we love with passion. Dancing is no different. And in a home where there’s a lot of dance, it’s usually a very happy home.”
They stayed in the Dominican Republic for seven years, and living there had an impact. “You see how cold and ignorant people can be and they lack so much empathy … We tell ourselves, people who come from very advanced cities or nations, that we’re so much better. [In fact] we’re so much more ignorant and sometimes a lot less laidback mentally, emotionally and culturally than people who grew up in simple countries.”
Moving back to New York, she studied acting, starring in the dance drama Centre Stage. With increasingly significant roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Terminal and then Star Trek, she won the role of Neytiri in James Cameron’s 2009 Avatar.
“When we cook, we cook with passion.
When we fight, we fight with passion.
When we love, we love with passion.”
Filming took more than two years; she remembers enjoying every minute. “I always felt in wonder, I’d go to work to be amazed.” She admits she didn’t fully appreciate the revolutionary 3D film techniques. “I’m not a techy,” she says, laughing again. “You can show me things and explain them 10,000 times and I will still come back 10 minutes later and go: ‘So tell me that again?’ I’m a late bloomer, and also a late person to get the joke, a late person to understand what just happened. I’ve always been that way.”
She has since shown her versatility in dramas like The Words and parlayed her dance training into action roles like the hit woman in Colombiana and a mercenary in The Losers. She loves action. “I’m very active, so the fact I feel like I have good rhythm and can learn techniques makes me happy because I get to prove myself as tough around the boys. That feels good.” Saldana admits she’s better at hanging with the boys than girls. “It’s difficult for me to get manis and pedis with the girls,” she says drily. Although she’s surrounded by very feminine women, she says they know how to hang with her. “They know if they want to go on a spa day, they don’t call me. But if they want to go to the shooting range or paintballing, call me.”
Even her take on fashion isn’t girlie. “It’s not just like, you want to wear it because you want to look hot or want to impress.” Growing up in a family of seamstresses, Saldana has always had a different perspective. “I view fashion like I view film. I regard Coco Chanel in the same way I regard Stanley Kubrick or Gabriel García Márquez. To me, Coco Chanel was a true artist and a genius at what she did.”
Her dancer’s physique means she’s a fashion house’s dream model and she enjoys close relationships with numerous designers. She was flown to Armani’s recent couture show in Paris, an honour that would have thrilled her seamstress grandmother. “Growing up hearing about Armani and how respected he was by the women I love and respect [meant going] to the show was so humbling for me.”
She’s close friends with US-based Nepalese designer Prabal Gurung, accompanying him to the recent CFDA awards wearing a striking black dress from his autumn/winter 2012 collection. “We tried a couple of dresses, but the moment we tried that one, we knew it was the one.” With her knack for stylish casual looks, she’s a fashion blogger’s darling.
However, she won’t commit to any particular style philosophy. “It will be according to the season, according to my mood, according to what fits,” she says. She doesn’t believe in following trends. “I do what makes me happy. When I’m not happy, I get bored, and that’s when I stop being creative.”
After such a busy year, is she due for some time off? “Christmas, I’ll take a break.” Right now she’s more excited than ever about work. “It’s not about: ‘Oh I need a job, I have to work.’ I just don’t like it when I feel stuck, when I feel like I’ve stopped my growth. Learning new things, that’s what keeps me going every day.”
Published in Vogue Australia November 2012
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