Zoe Saldaña clarifies her comments about feeling 'stuck' in Marvel movies, says she's the 'luckiest girl in town'

• Zoe Saldaña clarified her recent comments about feeling "stuck" in franchises like Marvel.
• The star said that she feels "grateful" for all the opportunities that have come her way.

Zoe Saldaña said that she feels like the "luckiest girl in town" to have a number of roles in big-budget franchise movies, after recently saying that she felt artistically "stuck" with her roles in Marvel movies and other projects.

The actor rose to fame in 2009 when she appeared as Nyota Uhura in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" after a string of supporting roles in a variety of comedy and drama movies. Saldaña also had a leading role as Neytiri in James Cameron's "Avatar" in the same year, a role she reprises in 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water."

The actor clarified her recent comments about working on big franchise movies, like Marvel, when she spoke to Deadline at "The Way of Water" premiere Monday, saying that she's "grateful."

She said: "I would love to set the record straight. I feel grateful and like the luckiest girl in this town knowing that I was invited to join films with special directors in a special cast. And they resonated with people so much so that we get a chance to come back again and come back another time."

Saldaña is also aware that she's "reaped all the benefits" of those movies, but she found it hard to keep a balance between the demands of those projects alongside her family.

She said: "But you know, I think that once I started my family, it just became really hard for me to sustain both worlds, and also then cater to this curiosity of playing other different characters or playing earthlings, you know."

But the actor said she can relate to her frequent collaborators like James Gunn, James Cameron, J.J. Abrams, and Steven Spielberg because she knows what it was like to be an outsider when growing up.

Saldaña explained: "I relate to men like James Gunn and James Cameron and JJ Abrams, and Steven Spielberg. Because maybe there is a common thread, maybe there's something that we all have in common of knowing what it's like to be misfits, and growing up feeling like you don't belong and finding that space created that blank canvas, where you can imagine the unimaginable."

The star added that she's "grateful" to frequently work with them, saying: "The fact that they saw me, a little girl from Queens and I can do those things for them, I can only be so grateful if they call me back again and again and again."