By Gill Pringle
If there was a key indicator for the fact that the roles might be getting better for women in Hollywood, Zoe Saldana would be it. Of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, the 38-year-old actress has done stellar work in blockbuster franchises like Guardians Of The Galaxy, Star Trek, and Avatar, as well offering equally strong work in more intimate films like Infinitely Polar Bear, Burning Palms, Blood Ties, Out Of The Furnace, and The Words. Not only does she work a lot, but Saldana is never there as window dressing, or to merely prop up her male co-stars. She gets another solid role in Live By Night, Ben Affleck’s Prohibition-era crime drama, furthering Saldana’s career upswing.
“I do see it,” Saldana replies when FilmInk asks if she sees any progress in the improvement of roles for women in Hollywood. “I believe in the glass being half full. I believe in saying it if you witness it. We are talking enough about it, but we’re also doing something about it besides talking. What I love about this community is ageless. There are women that are from Jane Fonda’s generation that have always been outspoken, and women like Lena Dunham who is not just speaking about it but writing a blog about it and inviting women to talk and be themselves. We’re definitely feeling safer to speak in public about something that is obvious. It feels like the installation where you just see a pink elephant in the room and people are pointing at it. But we’re also taking responsibility as consumers where we’re going to the movies and downloading movies where women are spearheading the story. It’s a cycle, and everybody in their respective parts is doing something.”
Saldana’s principal female co-star in Live By Night is British actress, Sienna Miller, whose 10c-a-dance vixen character, Emma Gould, is not just your typical cinematic “tart with a heart.” It’s another powerful performance from the one-time tabloid favourite, who has proven herself a gifted actress with fine turns in films like American Sniper, Foxcatcher, Factory Girl, Burnt, and High-Rise. Where does Miller stand on the issue of improving women’s film roles? “I think there’s a long way to go, but the fact that we’re having this conversation is massive,” the actress replies. “I think that the studios are conscious of it, and I think that it has to come within the way that women feel about themselves: ‘I feel so happy to be here, I’m so lucky.’ I don’t think that men have that attitude, so it’s something that we have to focus on. There’s massive inequality in lots of ways, but it’s a work in progress. And at least we’re talking about it.”
Live By Night is released in cinemas on January 26.
