LOS ANGELES?BY COINCIDENCE, ?AVATAR? star Zoe Saldana has two movies coming out a week apart in the United States??Death at a Funeral,? a remake of a fairly new British comedy, and ?The Losers,? an adaptation of the comic series of the same name.

In director Neil LaBute?s ?Death ?,? Zoe?s character gives Valium to her boyfriend, played by James Marsden, to calm his anxiety over meeting her father for the first time. But the drug turns out to be a homemade hallucinogen, so the boyfriend goes on a trip, taking off all his clothes at one point.

Zoe laughingly obliged when asked how awkward it was to shoot the scene with James, the prince charming in ?Enchanted? whom she calls Jimmy. She said, ?It was awkward because the very first time that I was going to see Jimmy naked when he was on the roof, he didn?t even give me a warning. I was talking to Luke (Wilson) inside the room and then Neil yelled, ?Action!? I opened the window and there was Jimmy naked. I just kept looking at his eyes. When Neil shouted ?Cut!? Jimmy was like, ?My God, you (Zoe) were such a ?gentleman.? You just kept looking at my face. Thank you so much.? I said, ?Next time, I?m going to punch you if you don?t give me a warning. I thought I was going to get a heart attack.? But it wasn?t a bad sight, I have to say.?

On her experience at wakes, Zoe, who is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, said: ?I?ve been to way too many funerals and some of them are comical. My family is from the Caribbean. The Latinos go all out at funerals and weddings. I remember those moments where you would be with your grandma and your mom and you?re going to give your condolences to a distant cousin. And all you wanted to do as a kid was run to the body and touch it. I had to bury my father when I was 9, so I do know also the hard side of funerals.?

The actress said she is humbled by having starred in the highest grossing movie of all time, and ?Star Trek,? another huge hit.

?The opportunities are amazing,? she exulted. ?I get to sit down with certain producers and directors. It would have taken longer before I get to talk to these people if I wasn?t in ?Avatar.? It?s like I have my ?Avatar card.? It makes me feel good because as an artist, you tend to go crazy every now and then and go, ?Am I losing my mind, pursuing something that really has no positive outcome???

With a laugh, she admitted she I still gets called Thandie Newton every now and then. She narrated how some folks ask for her autograph, mistaking her for Thandie, who was last seen in ?2012.? ?I?m okay with that. That?s really flattering,? she said.

?Bad-ass chick?

In the action-thriller ?The Losers,? Zoe, as Aisha, a ?bad-ass chick,? has a violent scene with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and then they engage in hot lovemaking. Curiously, she described filming this fiery sex scene as ?relaxing.?

?Jeffrey is such a respectful and professional actor. I was expecting to feel a little more nervous. As a woman, I do not want to be objectified and to feel like sort of the hot piece of meat in the movie. I like to contribute more than that. [But] I really like Aisha because she is lethal. I?ve never played anybody like this who is ruled by all these savage emotions of revenge, hate and anger. She is really crazy.?

Since casting for the gun-toting action heroine Aisha took place before millions of moviegoers saw her fight invading armies in ?Avatar,? Zoe had to aggressively seek the role. She loved the script that brings the DC/Vertigo Comics series to the screen. ?I was intrigued by the script,? Zoe said. ?I met with the team?this was the time I was shooting ?Avatar??and the feedback I got was that they thought I was too fragile. That annoys me so much because I know that physically, I appear to be fragile but when it comes to my character, there?s nothing polished or classy about ? I mean, I?m from Queens !?

She explained how James (or Jim to her) helped her bag the role: ?When Jim asked me how my audition went, I told him that they said I?m too fragile. He said, ?Go out in the desert with Gary (Garrett Warren).? He was the stunt coordinator of ?Avatar.? Jim said, ?Go shoot some guns, have Gary tape you and give them the tape.? That?s exactly what I did. Well, the script went away for three years and when it resurfaced, it was Sylvain (White) who was attached to direct. ?Avatar? wasn?t out yet. ?Star Trek? had been released. I had a great meeting with Sylvain who said, ?I?m one of those directors who see outside the box. You do appear to be fragile but there?s a kick-ass essence in you.??

Drinking beer

Zoe was glad to hear the director?s assessment. ?My personality really meshes with men,? she said. ?I don?t watch as much sports but I can drink beer, I can out-drink anybody sometimes and I can also deal with guns.?

Of the ?great projects? that she has been developing, Zoe is especially excited about ?a film with Joel Schumacher?he?s on my bucket list? and ?a small New York romantic movie that?s very personal, my way of going back to my roots and little stories that mean so much.?

Zoe is hoping to make these films before she does ?Star Trek 2.? ?Within a month, we?ll have specific filming dates for ?Star Trek 2,? ? she revealed. ?So we have to do whatever we have to do before the Enterprise comes calling.?

Avatar 2?

As for when the sequel to that other big movie of hers is going into production, Zoe said that all depends on James. ?I think he already knows what he?s going to do with ?Avatar 2.? He just needs to rest first. I kept telling him, ?Jim, you really need to get away and rest.? But now he?s in the Amazon in Brazil. He?s a prophet. He?s like a little machine.?

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.