SBIFF: Zoe Saldaña Shines in Emilia Perez
BRINGING BOTH BODY AND SOUL TO HER WORK, it should come as no surprise that Zoe Saldaña shines in this years’ surprise dark horse Emilia Perez. Her performance has earned her the American Riviera Award at the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, on Wednesday, February 12th at 8pm at the Arlington. This comes on the heels of the Cannes Film Festival honoring her with the Award for Best Actress, and the Golden Globe following suit with the Best Supporting Actress Award. Now, with an Oscar nod for her portrayal of “Rita,” Saldaña has a shot at the elusive triple crown of acting.
“Zoe Saldaña has a fantastic filmography worth celebrating any year,” said SBIFF’s Executive Director Roger Durling, “but her commanding and stouthearted performance in Emilia Pérez makes our tribute to her imperative.”
An accomplished actor with a stellar career already under her belt, Saldaña has easily navigated the creative space from small and personal roles (Dora Jansen in The Words) to blockbuster tentpole franchises (Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, Neytiri in Avatar). In whatever roles she takes on, she brings a physicality to her performance, and seems to live inside the very bodies of the people she portrays.
It makes sense, then, to learn she was a classically trained dancer before her pursuit of acting. “When I realized I had reached my limit and that I couldn’t go any further [with dance] I knew I wanted to pursue acting,” she said in an interview with Digital Journal. “That’s one thing you don’t use as a dancer — your voice. And the one thing I use most in my life is my voice so it’s wonderful to get to express myself artistically through the biggest instrument I use.”
Emilia Perez is a telenovela pop-rock mashup that demanded everything from Saldaña: singing, dancing, and walking the tightrope of ferociously living into a character desperate to survive her predicament, all while still endeavoring to do right.
Presented every year at SBIFF, the American Riviera Award recognizes actors who have made a significant contribution to American cinema. Among Saldana’s Riviera Award winning peers are preeminent actors including Kristen Stewart, Delroy Lindo, Renée Zellweger, Viggo Mortenson, Sam Rockwell, Jeff Bridges, Patricia Arquette, Annette Bening, and Sandra Bullock.
James Cameron, her director in the Avatar movies, has seen Emilia Perez three times. He praised her acting on Twitter, and said, according to Huffington Post, “This is her season.”
