Zoe Saldana Talks Star Trek 11

Zoe Saldana is a gorgeous woman, and the idea that she’ll be playing a younger version of Uhura in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Trek 11 is pretty good stuff. Via an interview with Black Film, Saldana, who will also be seen in James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” in 2009, talks about her role on Trek 11.

What attracted you to the film?

Zoe Saldana: (Director) J.J. Abrams had expressed an interest in working with me and he had liked my work. For an actor, that’s all you need. That’s all you want. To get the acknowledgement and respect from your peers; and so I went out and met him. He then said, ‘I don’t need to see you anymore’ and I felt really good. I felt like I did it. I earned it.

Were you a fan of the original series?

ZS: I never saw that. I was not a fan until now and I have so much admiration for what they did, and how much the series continues to grow after 45 years and I had the honor of meeting Nichelle Nichols and working with Leonard Nimoy and it was fantastic.

How was you meeting with Nichelle Nichols?

ZS: I was able to sit down with her and she told me the whole story of how Uhura came to be and where they were going with her character, but it all fell into place the moment she walked into the door and auditioned for the part. She named the character herself and it was a special thing and she felt as an artist, she was going to make the part big.

You can read the rest of the interview here.