Exclusive: The Absence of Eden interviews with director Marco Perego, Zoë Saldaña and Garrett Hedlund
Hitting theaters on April 12th from Roadside Attractions is The Absence of Eden from Italian indie filmmaker Marco Perego, making his feature directorial debut. Zoe Saldana stars as a woman who flees across the border, and helps protect a young girl. The cast includes Garrett Hedlund, Adria Arjona, Tom Waits, and Chris Coy
Marco Perego's film The Absence of Eden takes place at the border between the United States and Mexico – a hellish landscape inhabited by coyotes, armed officers, many desperate immigrants, and refugees. When Esmee (Zoe Saldaña), a young woman working as a private dancer in Mexico, is forced to commit a violent act of self-defense that results in the death of a cartel member, she must flee her homeland to find sanctuary in the United States. Guided by a ruthless Coyote and a group of undocumented immigrants, she befriends a young mother and her daughter along the way. Before crossing the border, the mother is taken from the group, and Esmee promises to protect her daughter and help them reunite in America, touching off an interlocking story about the people struggling to survive on America’s border with Mexico.
Produced by Julie Yorn, Marco Perego, Robert Kravis, Karl Herrmann, and Alexandra Milchan, the screenplay is also written by Marco Perego along with Rick Rapoza. The film was executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Rick Yorn, Cisely Mariel & Zoe Saldana’s Cinestar Pictures, Ingenious Media, Ashland Hill, Sycuan Tribal, Ruben Islas, Jolene Rodriguez, and Stanley Preschutti. This initially premiered at the 2023 Taormina Film Fest last year, and at the 2023 Newport Beach Film Festival.
As an artist, Marco’s work has been shown internationally in group exhibition at the Rennie Museum, Vancouver BC, Canada, Museo d’Arte, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Bologna, Museo Archeologico Firenze, The Andy Warhol Museum, and Galerie Untilthen. As a solo artist, his work has been featured at the Michele Maccarone Gallery, Galerie Untilthen, as well as displayed in a show by Chiara Parisi. Additionally, he curated a show of his work for the Museum Centre Pompidou-Mertz.
As the only actor in history to have starred in four films that have grossed over 2 billion dollars and the top three highest grossing films of all time, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of the Water and Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: Endgame, Saldaña currently stars in Taylor Sheridan’s undercover CIA drama series for Paramount+ “Special Ops: Lioness,” where she leads a fantastic cast including Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman, as well as executive produces. She recently wrapped production on Jacques Audiard’s upcoming musical crime comedy Emilia Perez, co-starring Karla Sofia Gascón and Selena Gomez.
Hedlund was most recently seen in Paramount+’s “Tulsa King” as Mitch Keller an Oklahoma native and ex bull-rider who retired prematurely after injuries led to addiction and the independent film The Tutor where he starred alongside Victoria Justice and Noah Schnapp. Recently starring in two films, Desperation Road opposite Mel Gibson and The Marsh King’s Daughter co-starring Ben Mendelson and Daisy Ridley for STXfilms, Hedlund’s other work includes, The United States vs. Billy Holiday from Paramount Pictures, the independent film DiRT Music, Netflix’s Triple Frontier, and the independent film Burden.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with director Marco Perego, Zoë Saldaña and Garrett Hedlund on the making of the fim.