If nothing else, maybeZoe Saldañacan walk away with an Oscar just for survivingtheEmilia Pérezfalloutwith her dignity intact. Largely unscathed from the blowback fiasco of the century,this wouldn’t be the first time that Saldaña would be put in an unfair position on a huge production. Luckily for everyone the world over, she chose not to quit acting after an early instance of suffering in a chaotic film environment that nearly made her regret her life choices. Not only was her involvement inThe Terminalthe deciding factor in keeping her career going, butit paved the way for her presence in the major franchise that cemented her as a huge star.
Who Is Zoe Saldaña in ‘The Terminal’?
When Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) finds himself stuck living in an airport inNew York City, he gradually builds relationships with the many regulars who work and travel there. The most charming of these subplots involves a will-they-won’t-they romance between immigration officer Dolores (Saldaña) and food service driver Enrique (Diego Luna), whereViktor plays matchmaker so the two can properly meet. The mechanics of this storyline are pure rom-com/melodrama cliché, as it’s never justified why Enrique can’t just talk to Dolores or how well they can actually work together, since they barely know each other. But Luna is such a charming, shaggy dog in his eagerness, andSaldaña is so engaging as her inner warmth gradually shines throughand her stern exterior falls away; it’s easy to surrender to the skillful manipulation ofSteven Spielberg’s direction.
Dolores initially comes on strong with her strict adherence to bureaucratic rules, butwe learn that she’s actually aStar Treknerd with a broken heart looking for someone she can depend on, and Saldaña really brings home both the pathos and the bathos of the film’s philosophy that hugely rewarding ventures can be forged with the tiniest of connections. That notion would prove all too fitting in the trajectory of Saldaña’s life, asThe Terminalserved as a vital fork-in-the road moment for her in multiple ways.
‘The Terminal’ Set Up Her ‘Star Trek’ Success
For those in my age range who have witnessed Zoe Saldaña’s rise since middle school,it’s hard to think of her as anything less than a reigning queen of nerdy fandoms, as she gained prominence by being a key figure in no less than three mega-franchises. With her involvement in theStar Trekreboot film trilogy, her many appearances in the MCU asGamora, and being arguablythe best character in theAvatarfilm series, she’s set herself up for life as an eternally beloved fixture in pop culture history.Star Trekbeing the start of that phase of her career is key, asher playing a Trekkie inThe Terminalprimed her to be ready for playing Lt. Uhura, since she’d previously not known anything about the show or its legacy.In researching forThe Terminal, she was exposed to how deep the fandom runs and found herself inspired by thinking, “I want to be like that. I want to be so passionate about something that I incorporate it in my everyday life and it is the reason I wake up, and it fulfills me.”
Zoe Saldaña Teamed Up With Mark Ruffalo for Her Most Heartbreaking Performance
Try not to cry.
There’s a lovely kismet in how one role fed into the other, especiallysince both are rule-oriented crewmembers with steel convictions in their heartsthat they don’t back down from. It’s also not for nothing that she claims Spielberg himself was the one who taught herhow to do the Vulcan salute for a key moment in the climax of Dolores' arc,which was a real clutch move on his part. But that’s not the only way that Steven Spielberg proved to be sagely intervention on behalf of Zoe Saldaña’s artistic future.
Steven Spielberg Convinced Zoe Saldaña To Keep Going
Saldaña steadily worked her way up to bigger movies sinceher initial debut, but her first crack at the big leagues was with her role inPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. This led to being part of a production thatshe claimedwasn’t led with kindness or awareness or consideration, which left her uncertain if she’d want to try a large-scale movie again. Butin working with Spielberg, she attested that he made her feel “so good and so safe,“and that he always sought to have all the actors be “synchronized and on the same page.” Most vitally, he shared a nugget of wisdom with her where he said that “In order for you to know where you are, you have to know where you came from.” All these anecdotes combined into her believing that Spielberg “restored my faith that big can also be great,” which points to how profound his influence on her was, sinceeverything he said has manifested in how she’s shaped her career. She’s continued to put her faith in huge blockbusters, to the point thatshe’s committed to being in theAvatarfilms until she’s in her 50s, and the campaign trail towards her increasingly likely Oscar win forEmilia Pérezhas seen her repeatedly vocalize how doing the film got her back in touch with her roots and who she truly wants to be as an artist. That’s a huge payoff for a couple of days ofpretending to have an airport desk job.
The Terminal
