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From the outside looking in, many of us equate landing a position in a big franchise movie is a huge win. Getting to see a big and loved franchise like Guardians of the Galaxy or Avatar on a resume might seem like a success because it means more work is coming, and with that is popularity and fame. But recently we’ve been seeing many stars share the cons of being in such big franchises. Actress Zoe Saldaña shares her thoughts and feelings as an alum for a handful of popular franchise movies.
Variety released the interview and reunion hybrid Zoe Saldaña had with Avatar colleague Kate Winslet. The two haven’t worked on a project together since Avatar: Way of Water, and while they are set to work on the next installment, this has been their first meetup since Way of Water. The two of them talked about their different roles outside of Avatar, with Saldaña going on to share her personal feelings about how she felt being in not just one big franchise, but three. Saldaña goes on to say:
- SALDAÑA: And these films, Avatar, Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, they gave me so much. But as they became super successful and became machines and worldwide phenomenon’s, all that was happening while I was also getting married and starting my family. So there was very little time for me to …
- WINSLET: … be an artist.
- SALDAÑA: … start stretching my muscles again and challenge myself. You find yourself just full of frustration, and you don’t know where to put it. I had a conversation with my agents, and we wrote down a list of great directors — a very small list. They called me up and they said, ‘Jacques Audiard is casting for his next movie, and it’s going to be in Spanish, and it’s an opera and it takes place in Mexico, and we really do believe there’s a part that is just perfect for you.’
Saldaña goes on to talk about her role in Emilia Pérez, and how accepting the role was accompanied by a lot of self-sabotage on her part because it required her to step out of her usual casting. As mentioned in her quote at the time those movies were all taking off, she herself was starting her own family, so having a big-name franchise under her belt gave some kind of stability.
With any career there’s a need to keep stability, and in an industry like entertainment where another role is based on many external factors, many stars talk about how scary it is to go outside of their comfort zone. Actors like Jason Momoa have stated before that they feel thankful that they had the space to explore because their careers took off later in life. And on the other side of the camera, some actors like Olivia Wilde moved on to direct as a way to continue and explore her range. And of course, the other known downside to being in big name franchises, is typecasting and being seen as a one note kind of actor. Something a few actors known for their roles in comedy, like Pete Davidson, struggle wanting to be seen as something else.
While we can’t all relate exactly 1 to 1 with the pressures of being on screen, Saldaña is definitely relatable in that she lightly touches on the reality that sometimes our success makes it hard to step out of our comfort zone and into something more unknown. Her new movie Emilia Pérez is available for streaming with a Netflix subscription. As for the team up between Saldaña and Winslet, as far as we know Avatar: Fire and Ash is set to release in 2025 so we’ll be heading back to Pandora soon.