I am mesmerized by Zoe Saldana’s “hot schoolmarm” thing that’s going on in this interview. I’m not sure what she’s wearing or what she’s doing with her hair, but I definitely hear a Van Halen song when I look at her.
Saldana is currently Hollywood’s busiest alien. She’s about to start work on “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” introducing her into the Marvel Universe, and James Cameron is supposedly still hard at work on the scripts for “Avatar 2” and “Avatar 3,” which he hopes to shoot back to back starting sometime next year.
I’d love to know if she’s already training to be able to pull off what sounds like some ground-breaking underwater motion-capture, because that’s got to be a whole different level of physical challenge. And I’m curious if they’ll be going the make-up route for “Guardians,” or if that will be a largely digital performance, too.
Whatever the case, just because she’s playing human in a movie doesn’t mean she’s necessarily going to stay on Earth. As Nyota Uhura, the chief communications officer for the Starship Enterprise, she’s back in “Star Trek Into Darkness” and settling into her role onboard the ship nicely. She’s also still wrapped up in a complicated personal relationship with Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Their love story is one of the biggest departures between this timeline and the timeline of the original “Star Trek” series, and we see that there are some definite stresses on their relationship this time. Spock is infuriating to anyone who actually has emotions, and in this film, Uhura spends at least part of the movie believing that he doesn’t particularly care if he lives or dies.
In this interview with Saldana, Guy Lodge also talks to her about the various ways the rest of the cast made her laugh during production. I am greatly entertained by my oldest son’s shameless crush on Saldana, which was in full effect again after we saw “Star Trek Into Darkness” on Monday night. When he met her at the press day for “Columbiana,” he turned about 30 different shades of red just trying to say hello, and I have never felt more kinship to him. If he’s going to have crushes, at least he’s got great taste. Smart, passionate, and busy as could be, Zoe Saldana has plenty of geek-friendly adventures ahead.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” opens everywhere today.