Saldana: Our Expectations Were Met
2 min readFor Zoë Saldana, Star Trek into Darkness met her expectations and that of her co-stars in the movie.
The actress explained that what she wanted to see in Star Trek into Darkness could be summed up in one word: “evolution.”
“I wanted to see an evolution in these characters,” Saldana explained. “I wanted to see them start at Point A in the first movie and then at least be at Point B in their lives in this one. It could be things like Chekov growing a beard, just things that let you know they’ve been together doing missions for some time now. And, for Uhura, I’m a tomboy, so if I’m going to play a role where I’m working up against male characters that are kicking ass, I want to be in on it, too. I want to be a part of the fun. So those were my expectations for this one.”
Those expectations were met and Saldana was happy with the script that was delivered. “Yes, [my expectations were met], and I know the rest of the actors felt the same way,” she said. “To feel that energy, to know that everybody felt seen and heard by your director, your group of writers, your peers, you feel very integrated into the teamwork, into the collaboration of doing a movie like this.”
Although she’s a self-confessed tomboy, there was one girly thing that Saldana was required to do before she could get into the role of Uhura. “You had some actors complaining about having to cut their hair or having to get more muscular or getting on a special diet or shaving their eyebrows,” she said. “I had to go back into starting to shave my whole legs all the time because I had to wear those little dresses. Then I had the hairdo.”
The character of Uhura was an integral part of the Enterprise crew. “The more and more the danger and the stress level rises and the story unfolds, there’s more of an open collaboration among all of the people on the Enterprise,” said Saldana. “The captain is more open to ideas and suggestions, so Uhura is one of the characters that jumps into it, either by encouraging the captain or by voicing her trepidations.”
Her personal life in this movie is a little more complicated though as one released clip shows. “Uhura needs a lot of answers to questions that we’ve left hanging with her, with [Spock and Uhura],” said Saldana.
Saldana has another short video interview on PerezHilton.com, which can be seen here.