Zoe Saldaña Once Shared She Refused to Change Her Weight for Movie Roles
Actor Zoe Saldaña is known for doing physically challenging films like Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy. And although she’s willing to do whatever she can to prepare for a movie, there’s one line she won’t cross.
Zoe Saldaña explained why she couldn’t change her weight for movie roles like other actors
Saldaña had a knack for playing action roles in her features. Audiences have seen her as a superhero in Guardians of the Galaxy, and as a formidable assassin in thrillers like Colombiana. She’s managed to look convincing in these projects without having to significantly change her weight, which she hasn’t felt the need to do.
“I don’t like to f*** with my body like that,” she said in a resurfaced interview with Digital Spy (via Female First). “I think it’s marvelous when actors do, but I know I don’t have it in me to not eat, or to over-eat. I would rather shoot myself in the foot.”
Saldaña clarified that she wasn’t disparaging actors who did change their weight for film roles, however. Like her own Guardians of the Galaxy co-star Chris Pratt, who lost significant weight to play the character Star-Lord.
“This is not invalidating what Chris has done, he had to go through the transformation and it was a spiritual thing as well for him, and he looks fantastic,” she said.
Additionally, Saldaña wasn’t sure that her physique would’ve been able to bounce back from significant weight changes. At least compared to some of her contemporaries.
“I really admire actors like Christian Bale and Jared Leto who go up and down, but they’re gifted, and once they’re done with that movie they go back and look like who they are,” she added. “I don’t think that would happen to me. I love Shake Shack [a fast food chain] too much, as well!”
Zoe Saldaña felt a good workout was playing with her kids
Saldaña might not have been a fan of bulking up or losing weight for a role. But she was still a fan of staying in shape. Still, the actor’s training regimen wasn’t too intense if it didn’t need to be. In an interview she once did with Shape (via Wusa 9), Saldaña confided that eating clean and playing with her kids provided sufficient exercise.
“I can’t work out regularly, so I compensate by eating a lot healthier than I might otherwise,” Saldaña said. “Once you have relatively healthy eating habits, your workout can become playing with your kids, strolling around the neighborhood, playing airplane, or just changing diapers.”
A part of the reason why Saldaña didn’t feel the need to change her body was because she’d accepted herself and her physique long ago.
“If we could design ourselves, we’d all be perfect. But we can’t, so why be unhappy about it?” she said. “I’ve never wanted different hair or my body any other shape. And I’ve never thought of a person as ugly unless they opened their mouth and their heart was full of venom.”
Saldaña admitted that, when she does train hard, the sci-fi star often needs someone to motivate her.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a fitness freak, no. But I do enjoy being fit and in tune with my body. But I always need someone to push me – a trainer – otherwise I just wouldn’t do it. I’m only human! I pig out on things like every other woman – but if I do I just make sure I eat healthy the next day,” she once said in an interview with Movies.IE.
