Zoe Saldaña says Jerry Bruckheimer apologized for her set experience on Pirates of the Caribbean

Zoe Saldaña's experience on the first Pirates of the Caribbean was comparable to getting cursed by the Black Pearl.

Right off the heels of roles in Crossroads and Center Stage, Saldaña joined the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to play Anamaria, a tough smuggler and pirate wronged by Captain Jack Sparrow on more than one occasion.

Saldaña is no stranger to the franchise world nowadays, having starred in Avatar, Star Trek, and Guardians of the Galaxy, but in 2003, Pirates was her first exposure to making a film on such a large scale.

"It was my first exposure to a major Hollywood mega movie, where there were just so many actors and so many producers and so many crew members," Saldaña tells EW. "We were shooting in different locations, and the environments were not that agreeable, sometimes, to our shoot days. I was very young, and it was just a little too big for me, and the pace of it was a little too fast."

Elliott Marks/Walt Disney Zoe Saldana 'The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl'

She continued, "I walked away not really having a good experience from it overall. I felt like I was lost in the trenches of it a great deal, and I just didn't feel like that was okay." The experience led Saldaña to decide not to return to the franchise for any future installments.

Although her time on set was less than ideal, she was able to receive a bit of closure years later, thanks to none other than producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

"Years later, I was able to meet with Jerry Bruckheimer, who apologized that I had that experience cause he really wants everyone to have a good experience on his projects," she said. "That really moved me — the fact that he remembered that I had mentioned that during press, I guess, or an engagement I had done years before and that he felt compelled to bring it up and to take accountability."

Fortunately, Saldaña didn't let her experience with Pirates impact her future career decisions about joining franchises. "To feel seen and heard as an artist, throughout the years, or even just as a person, means so much," says Saldaña.

Watch her full "Role Call" video above, where she takes us through some of her most notable roles.

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