Zoe Saldaña Calls Out Uneven Political Questions at Press Events
SkimNews Take
Saldaña is pointing past individual rudeness to a structural pattern: when interviews funnel political scrutiny toward actors of color and women while leaving gatekeepers unquestioned, the appearance of accountability substitutes for actually scrutinizing who decides what gets made.
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- Zoe Saldaña said at the Locarno Film Festival that political questions in Q&As disproportionately land on actors of color and women, calling the pattern 'incredibly limiting' and 'frustrating.'
- Saldaña gave a specific example: when she's the only person of color or woman on stage, she's asked questions like 'What do you think we need to do to make films more inclusive?' rather than craft questions.
- Saldaña argued the burden is misdirected, saying 'You don't ask the only person that comes from the marginalized community... you ask the other 80 of them that are part of the gatekeepers,' and that people of color are forced to 'work double' to be in the room.
- Saldaña did not name specific press tours but was notably confronted about 'Emilia Pérez' offending Mexicans minutes after winning the 2025 Best Supporting Actress Oscar; she responded that the film was about universal women and friendship, not Mexico.
- Locarno Film Festival director Giona Nazzaro presented Saldaña with a Special Honorary Pardo during the conversation.
- Saldaña currently stars in the third season of Paramount+'s 'Lioness,' the context in which she traveled to Locarno.
Why it matters: Saldaña is leveraging a festival platform to spotlight a structural imbalance in entertainment press — the same marginalized talent expected to advocate for inclusion is also expected to answer for it, while decision-makers are not. The Oscar-night clash over 'Emilia Pérez' illustrates her point: minutes after winning, she was put on the defensive about a film that also starred a French-Dominican lead, while no other cast member fielded the same question.
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