Zoe Saldaña Tells Locarno: "Give Me That Camera!" — The Box-Office Queen Wants to Direct
Zoe Saldaña has one request. "Give me that camera!" she told a Locarno Film Festival audience on 10 August 2026, making her ambition to move behind the lens plain.
Saldaña was in the Swiss town of Locarno to receive a Special Honorary Pardo — the festival's honorary award, presented by artistic director Giona Nazzaro — during a 45-minute public conversation at the GranRex cinema. She is also a Patron of the festival, one of Europe's longest-running film showcases, now in its 79th edition. (Variety; Locarno Film Festival)
The directing bug is not new. Saldaña discussed her filmmaking ambitions in April 2026, when she was named to the TIME100 list of the world's most influential people. (TIME) Locarno simply gave her the stage to say it aloud.
Her résum on screen is unmatched in one measurable sense: as the star of the Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar franchises, Saldaña holds the record as the actor whose films have earned the most money ever — more than any other performer in cinema history. She added an Academy Award to that haul with Emilia Pérez, winning Best Supporting Actress. (Variety)
The path to that stage was not direct. Saldaña trained first as a ballet dancer, but was undone by what she called the "wrong-shaped feet" — she lacked the required bridge of the foot for pointe work. As a child she moved from New York to the Dominican Republic, a cultural clash she described as difficult, with "big growth pains." (Variety)
On stage at Locarno she spoke about the directors who changed her trajectory. James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Gore Verbinski, she said, looked her in the eyes and saw an artist rather than a set of hyphenated identities. She also credited her manager Rick Yorn with steering her back to television — first the miniseries Rosemary's Baby, then Taylor Sheridan's Lioness. (Variety)
Saldaña was candid about the limits she still hits. Being the only person of colour or the only woman on a panel is "incredibly limiting and frustrating," she said, describing how she waits for her turn to be asked about craft rather than identity. (Variety)
Her slate stays full. She confirmed two upcoming projects: the third season of Sheridan's Lioness and the fourth entry in the Avatar franchise, which would reunite her with Cameron. (Variety)
For a performer whose films have grossed more than any actor's in history, the pivot to directing is the next chain of decisions — and this time she wants to be the one making them.
