How Zoe Saldana Learned Of Her Oscar Nomination
'Oh my gosh, I don't think that my thoughts were fast enough [to keep up] with my emotions,' Zoe Saldaña recalls about her experience of reading the script of Emilia Pérez for the first time during a game of Ask Me Anything with ELLE UK.
The actor, who has since received Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her role, plays a resourceful lawyer named Rita in the critically-acclaimed film, who helps the titular cartel leader to flee their criminal past in order to fulfill a dream of transitioning into living as a woman.
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On what drew her to the story, Saldaña shares, 'The opportunity to jump into a story involving four women, four women of colour, four Hispanic women. Everything about it felt exciting.'
Away from the cameras and red carpets, the Avatar star is a devoted mother and wife and describes her family as her 'joy' and her loyalty to them as her 'superpower.' Bittersweetly, she was actually on her way to a family emergency when she heard the news of her first Oscar nomination. 'We were all together and everybody is fine, thank God. It was a little sweet and sour, but that's what life is.'
Despite her Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage — and Spanish mother tongue — Emilia Pérez is one of Saldaña's first Spanish-language roles. What, then, is one of her favourite Spanish words to teach people? 'Coño,' she laughs. 'You stomp your toe? Coño. You're wearing a nice, little dress and it's raining? Coño. You over salted your meat? Coño. You f*cked up a line? Coño.' It means vagina or f*ck, by the way.
Emilia Pérez is streaming on Netflix now. Watch Ask Me Anything with Zoe Saldaña above.
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