Zoe Saldana Talks 'Bad Experience' Making 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' Reveals Which Director Restored Her Faith in Filmmaking

Zoe Saldana is opening up about her “really bad experience” on the set of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, right at the beginning of her career.

The 46-year-old actress chatted about her career during a Screen Talks conversation at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival on Saturday (October 12) in London, England.

Zoe has her big screen debut in 2000′s Center Stage and she also appeared in 2002′s Crossroads and Drumline. Her next major movie was 2003′s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, in which she played Anamaria, a pirate who to confront Jack Sparrow for stealing her ship.

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“It was a big Disney studio machine, big cast, people doing accents. I barely had my SAG card. I was learning as I was going. I hung out with the camera department, asking the DP: ‘What are you doing?’ That became my school. And I learned the kind of people I wanted to work with,” Zoe said (via Deadline).

She added, “I knew with that experience the kind of people that I wanted to work with. The crew and the cast, they’re 99% of the time super marvelous. But if the studio and the producers and the director, they’re not leading with kindness and awareness and consideration, then that big of a production can become a really bad experience and you may tip overboard. And I kind of did.”

“I worked with Steven Spielberg eight months later, and he restored my faith that big can also be great,” Zoe said (via Variety).

Zoe starred alongside Tom Hanks in 2004′s The Terminal. She played U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Dolores Torres.

Zoe is getting major Oscar buzz for her latest movie, which had a premiere at the festival.