Zoe Saldaña gets honest about 'Emilia Pérez' flak

Zoe Saldaña scooped up the Oscar for the first time, but her win for Emilia Pérez was dotted by criticism by some quarters.

In a pressroom, a reporter from a Mexican news outlet pressed the Avatar star on the criticism her film has drawn from the depiction of the country which the journalist said was “hurtful.”

In a reply, Zoe defended her work and the film, stating, “First of all, I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended,” Saldaña said. That was never our intention. We spoke and came from a place of love, and I will stand by that.”

She continued, “I don’t share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We weren’t making a film about a country. We were making a film about four women."

"And these women could have been Russian. They could have been Dominican. They could have been Black from Detroit. Could have been from Israel. Could have been from Gaza," the actress added.

"And these women are still very universal women — that are struggling every day at trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find their most authentic voices."

“So I will stand by that, but I’m also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters and with love and respect have a great conversation on how ‘Emilia’ could have been done better,” Zoe concluded.