EXCLUSIVE: While Zoe Saldana has starred in recent blockbusters Avatar: The Way Of Water, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and makes her TV series debut this month in the Taylor Sheridan created series Special Ops: Lioness, nothing is closer to her heart than The Absence of Eden, which marks the feature directing debut of her renowned artist husband Marco Perego. While illegal immigrants are used as political cannon fodder in the polarized politics of the US and abroad, the script by Perego and Rick Rapoza puts a face on these people, and focuses on the harrowing experiences of the outsiders who pay and trust ‘coyotes’ to transport them across the boarder. They hope to achieve the promise of a new life but there is every chance — especially for women and children — that they will end up dead or enslaved in human trafficking and drug operations. Saldana stars as one who takes that chance; Garrett Hedlund plays a border patrol officer who falls hard for a local (Adria Arjona) whose secret could tear them apart. Visiting the Deadline Studio before their world premiere at the ancient Teatro Antico amphitheater to close out the 69th Taormina Film Festival, Perego, Saldana, her Cinestar partner Cisely Saldana, and Pioneer Pictures partners Robert Kravis and Karl Hermann discuss the challenge of putting together a dark but meaningful first directing outing for Perego.
