Zoe Saldana was captured by James White for the cover of Flare Magazine’s January 2014 issue wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier trench, Salvatore Ferragamo top, Jason Wu skirt and hot pants, plus B Brian Atwood heels.
The ‘Nina’ star talks to the Canadian mag about her no-regrets policy about portraying Nina Simone, the challenges of male-dominated sets, the power of women today, not caring what anyone says about her, and her secret softer side.
On the power of women today: “Women aren’t wimpy. They don’t complain all the time. They can open up jars! They can fucking save the day! They can support their whole family. They can support their men. Half of my friends make more money than their male partners.”
On life lessons: “You have to learn from your experiences. I’ve been in compromising circumstances, and I wish I’d had the strength that I have now because I would have protected myself better. I would have stood up for myself better. Women are challenged every day and are sometimes encouraged to objectify themselves. And it hurts.”
On not caring what anyone says about her: “There’s nothing anybody can say or think about me that I will give a shit about. Honestly.”
On her secret soft side: “It’s so funny: the characters I played in ‘Columbiana’ and ‘Avatar’, on the surface, there’s what appears to be strength, but it’s sugar-coating an immense vulnerability. I am tough, but I’m also a very vulnerable person. I trust everyone. For many years I thought, I need to stop being this way, but no, I just need to learn from it.”
On the challenge of male-dominated sets: “You’d see all the boys together, and they’re discussing the scene and what’s going to happen. You just go, ‘yeah, but…’ and they say, ‘oh, but we already discussed that’”. In these instances, Zoe has no problem saying “‘I understand everything you’re saying, but these are the terms we agreed on, and that is why I got on a plane and came out here, and I decided to have your back, and now I don’t feel like you’re having my back. This character is invisible. She’s completely irrelevant, and she should be more. ’”
On her no-regrets policy about ‘Nina’: “At the end of the day, no matter how the movie is received, I’m not going to regret anything.”
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Acne Studios top and pants
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Louis Vuitton dress
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Barbara Bui dress
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Rosie Assoulin top and Joe Fresh pants
Credit: James White for Flare
