One of the stars of the top three highest-grossing movies of all time may be moving behind the camera sooner rather than later. During a panel at the Toronto International Film Festival attended by Collider‘s Tania Hussain, Zoe Saldaña expressed interest in stepping behind the camera to direct an action movie. Saldaña is no stranger to acting in action movies, with both the Avatar films and all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies all classifying as their own brand of action. However, each of these films also maintains a level of heart at the core of the story that isn’t sacrificed for the sake of mindless entertainment. That’s what the best action movies accomplish; a compelling story with entertainment that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Saldaña spoke about this at TIFF while also diving into her taste in movies:
“I’ve never seen a woman direct a James Bond movie. I mean, I love action and I’m you know, obviously, I love independent cinema and I like The Equalizer. Like that’s, that’s like what I do. I watch crime shows and you know, so maybe in the future I’ve always been drawn to like heist sort of themes and is a film that I need to watch at least once a year and, and analyze it and the way that, like, just put it all together, the way that everybody performs it. I would love to start with an action sort of heist sort of thing. But never, never box myself. I can do anything just like Ang Lee did Sense and Sensibility . Then I can also do a Jane Austen one day. You never know.”
Although she’s yet to step behind the camera in a directing or writing capacity, it sounds like Zoe Saldaña has her idea of the kind of movie she’d like to direct. James Bond is inevitably going to be rebooted with another actor following Daniel Craig‘s demise in No Time to Die, but it remains unclear who is going to replace him as 007. While it’s possible that the powers that be behind the James Bond movies would like someone with a little more directing experience, if they are willing to go in a different direction and give someone a Bond movie for their first crack at big-screen directing, Saldaña‘s experience in action movies and major franchises may make her a perfect fit.
How Much Has Zoe Saldaña Grossed at the Worldwide Box Office?
Zoe Saldaña is the #2 highest-grossing movie star at the worldwide box office of all time, behind only Scarlett Johansson. She plays the lead role of Neytiri in both of James Cameron‘s Avatar films and also plays Gamora in all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as well as both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. As it stands, Zaldaña‘s box office total is more than a whopping $9.1 billion worldwide, with Johansson narrowly crossing the $9.2 mark, and Robert Downey Jr. in third with $8.8 billion.
Zoe Saldaña has not been tapped to direct a movie yet, but stay tuned to Collider where we’ll be the first to report if she is. You can also check out some of her recent work as what is likely her final outing as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, now streaming on Disney+.
via Collider