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Zoe Saldaña takes on new role in “The Absence of Eden,” directed by husband Marco Perego
Zoe Saldaña is known for starring in big sci-fi franchises like “Avatar,” Star Trek” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Now, she’s taking on a new role, playing an undocumented immigrant who flees her home in Mexico for sanctuary. The film, “The Absence of Eden,” is directed and co-written by her husband, Marco Perego.
The movie does not take a political stance, the couple says, as it showcases the polarizing issue of immigration.
“I was really proud of him, that out of all the subjects that he could be, you know, building a story around, he chose immigration and the angle of humanity, which keeps us very neutral, but also keeps us in the form of art of telling stories that are compelling about human beings, about people,” Saldaña said.
The inspiration for Perego started with a personal project in 2016. He created a sculpture about immigrant children who died traveling from Syria to Italy. Perego collected 714 pairs of shoes to represent those children and filled them with concrete. It is now in a museum in Vancouver, Canada.
“For me it was, okay, how I can talk about humanity in more of a global aspect,” he said.
Perego spent two years researching and traveling to help tell this story for “The Absence of Eden.” He traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with his co-writer multiple times.
“My biggest goal was to be as honest as possible when I was telling the story,” he said.
Saldaña explained it wasn’t only about sitting down with people who have been compelled to cross the border.
“It’s also people who work in law enforcement that have a duty to fulfill and sometimes that conflicts with their moral code or how they’re feeling in the core about what they’re doing.”
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Saldaña said they may be uncomfortable conversations, but she thinks it’s important to have all sides to properly understand the issue.
“I feel like the issue of immigration has been an ongoing issue,” she said. “I think that what’s important in my opinion is for us not to forget as Americans that this nation was founded by immigrants.”
As for working on set as husband and wife for the first time, the couple joked about a few moments they disagreed.
“When she speaks Spanish, I’m in trouble,” Perego joked.
As time progressed, Saldaña said, the two found a working rhythm.
“I feel like the more experience we have, it’ll continue to get better and better,” Saldaña said.
“The Absence of Eden” hits theaters on April 12.
With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to pull the plug on the $7,500 tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles, one EV maker and its billionaire owner are fully behind the idea and even stand to profit from it.
“Take away the subsidies, it will only help Tesla,” Tesla owner Elon Musk posted in July on X, the social media platform he owns.
The credit granted to buyers of EVs helped make the case for buying the climate-friendlier vehicles, and when an earlier version of the tax credit was done away with several years ago, Tesla cut prices on its cars by about half of the credit its buyers were no longer receiving.
Tesla is the sole automaker to be generating a profit on its U.S. sales. Manufacturing EVs is a losing proposition for Big Three vehicle makers like Ford and General Motors, who sell a fraction of EVs compared with Tesla.
Once the EV tax credit is vanquished, the price of EVs overall might drop, cutting into Tesla’s profits, as opposed to increasing the company’s red ink as it could for legacy automakers still working to get a firmer footing in the EV market. Should traditional automakers scale back on their EV production and sales to curtail the losses, EV shoppers would have even fewer options, benefiting Tesla.
As Musk touted his support for axing the EV tax credit, Tesla’s auto industry rivals signaled the opposite.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation urged that the tax credit continue, telling lawmakers in an October letter that U.S. manufacturers count on it as they vie with Chinese EV production. Around the world, vehicle makers have poured billions into transitioning to electric cars.
Further, the Zero Emission Transportation Association on Friday called on Trump to reconsider, saying the tax credit has bolstered employment in states that voted Republican, including Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia.
“If the United States is going to continue to fight to bring those jobs here and actually compete to win against China, there needs to be a demand signal — like the New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit — aligned with that goal, otherwise we would be undercutting those investments and hurting American job growth,” ZETA Executive Director Albert Gore stated on Friday.
“The potential elimination of the federal tax credit for electric vehicles by the Trump administration — without another form of incentive to replace it — could derail the trajectory of EV sales in the United States,” offered Edmunds analysts.
Trump repeatedly vowed to eliminate what he labeled President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate” as he campaigned for the White House.
While there is no such mandate in federal law, the Inflation Reduction Act passed during President Biden’s term revived the credit for many EV purchases, while also granting low interest loans to manufacturers constructing EV and battery plants.
Trump’s transition team intends to knock out the credit as part of a broader tax-reform measure, according to a Thursday report by Reuters, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The president-elect during his first term attempted to repeal the EV tax credit, which was expanded by President Biden in 2022.
Analysts who track Tesla concurred with Musk’s view that the credit’s demise would only help his company.
“This is a clear negative for the EV industry at first look and would particularly hurt GM, Ford, Stellantis and Rivian,” wrote Wedbush Securities tech analyst Daniel Ives. Conversely, “this will enable Tesla to further fend off competition from Detroit as pricing/scale/scope is an apples-to-oranges when compared to the rest of the auto industry once the EV tax credit disappears.”
Americans looking to buy an electric car should do so sooner rather than later, advised Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director Insights.
“The federal tax credit combined with slashed prices due to slowed sales momentum has contributed to electric vehicles becoming labeled as some of the best deals on the market in 2024. Now, with production cuts shrinking supply and a fresh wave of demand from those seeking a deal while they still can, it can be all but assured that the price for that EV you’ve been eyeing is going up in the coming months,” Drury stated.
With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to pull the plug on the $7,500 tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles, one EV maker and its billionaire owner are fully behind the idea and even stand to profit from it.
“Take away the subsidies, it will only help Tesla,” Tesla owner Elon Musk posted in July on X, the social media platform he owns.
The credit granted to buyers of EVs helped make the case for buying the climate-friendlier vehicles, and when an earlier version of the tax credit was done away with several years ago, Tesla cut prices on its cars by about half of the credit its buyers were no longer receiving.
Tesla is the sole automaker to be generating a profit on its U.S. sales. Manufacturing EVs is a losing proposition for Big Three vehicle makers like Ford and General Motors, who sell a fraction of EVs compared with Tesla.
Once the EV tax credit is vanquished, the price of EVs overall might drop, cutting into Tesla’s profits, as opposed to increasing the company’s red ink as it could for legacy automakers still working to get a firmer footing in the EV market. Should traditional automakers scale back on their EV production and sales to curtail the losses, EV shoppers would have even fewer options, benefiting Tesla.
As Musk touted his support for axing the EV tax credit, Tesla’s auto industry rivals signaled the opposite.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation urged that the tax credit continue, telling lawmakers in an October letter that U.S. manufacturers count on it as they vie with Chinese EV production. Around the world, vehicle makers have poured billions into transitioning to electric cars.
Further, the Zero Emission Transportation Association on Friday called on Trump to reconsider, saying the tax credit has bolstered employment in states that voted Republican, including Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia.
“If the United States is going to continue to fight to bring those jobs here and actually compete to win against China, there needs to be a demand signal — like the New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit — aligned with that goal, otherwise we would be undercutting those investments and hurting American job growth,” ZETA Executive Director Albert Gore stated on Friday.
“The potential elimination of the federal tax credit for electric vehicles by the Trump administration — without another form of incentive to replace it — could derail the trajectory of EV sales in the United States,” offered Edmunds analysts.
Trump repeatedly vowed to eliminate what he labeled President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate” as he campaigned for the White House.
While there is no such mandate in federal law, the Inflation Reduction Act passed during President Biden’s term revived the credit for many EV purchases, while also granting low interest loans to manufacturers constructing EV and battery plants.
Trump’s transition team intends to knock out the credit as part of a broader tax-reform measure, according to a Thursday report by Reuters, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The president-elect during his first term attempted to repeal the EV tax credit, which was expanded by President Biden in 2022.
Analysts who track Tesla concurred with Musk’s view that the credit’s demise would only help his company.
“This is a clear negative for the EV industry at first look and would particularly hurt GM, Ford, Stellantis and Rivian,” wrote Wedbush Securities tech analyst Daniel Ives. Conversely, “this will enable Tesla to further fend off competition from Detroit as pricing/scale/scope is an apples-to-oranges when compared to the rest of the auto industry once the EV tax credit disappears.”
Americans looking to buy an electric car should do so sooner rather than later, advised Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director Insights.
“The federal tax credit combined with slashed prices due to slowed sales momentum has contributed to electric vehicles becoming labeled as some of the best deals on the market in 2024. Now, with production cuts shrinking supply and a fresh wave of demand from those seeking a deal while they still can, it can be all but assured that the price for that EV you’ve been eyeing is going up in the coming months,” Drury stated.
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