Zoe Saldana believes the universe "talks directly" to her

Speaking to Kate Winslet for Variety's Actors on Actors series, Zoe said when asked how 'Emilia Perez' had came to her: "It was through my agents.

"But I have to say that it's through the power of manifestation.

"I've always been a little bit cynical about the relationship that we have with the universe, and yet the universe has always been talking to me directly whenever I've sought direct advice and guidance.

"And these films, 'Avatar', 'Star Trek', 'Guardians of the Galaxy', they gave me so much.

"But as they became super successful and became machines and worldwide phenomenons, all that was happening while I was also getting married and starting my family.

"So there was very little time for me to ... start stretching my muscles again and challenge myself."

Zoe was thrilled when she was then called about the potential of playing lawyer Rita in the musical, but questioned her suitability.

She added: "You find yourself just full of frustration, and you don't know where to put it. I had a conversation with my agents, and we wrote down a list of great directors - a very small list. They called me up and they said, 'Jacques Audiard is casting for his next movie, and it's going to be in Spanish, and it's an opera and it takes place in Mexico, and we really do believe there's a part that is just perfect for you.'

"Your self-sabotage comes up. Immediately, it's like, 'Oh, wait, wait, wait. You're not Mexican. Oh, wait, wait, wait. You can't sing, you can't dance, you can't do this.'

" And I was like, 'Well, but I want to meet him. I just want to have a conversation with him.'

"And we had a Zoom, and it was such a great connection that I had with Jacques."

Kate agreed: "He's a brilliant director. My God. The deeper you dig and the more layers of the onion that you peel away. And to turn that into opera, it was extraordinary to me."