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12.07.2023 - 00:57 / justjared.com
Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana are starring in the new Paramount+ series Special Ops: Lioness and they just launched a press tour for the show!
The actresses stepped out for a red carpet launch event hosted by Paramount+ and Vanity Fair on Tuesday night (July 11) in London, England.
Earlier in the day, Nicole and Zoe appeared at a photo call for the show.
Special Ops: Lioness, inspired by an actual U.S. Military program, follows the life of Joe (Saldaña) while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA’s spear in the war on terror. The Lioness Program, overseen by Kaitlyn Meade (Kidman) and Donald Westfield (Michael Kelly), enlists an aggressive Marine Raider named Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) to operate undercover alongside Joe among the power brokers of State terrorism in the CIA’s efforts to thwart the next 9/11.
Morgan Freeman also stars in the series, which will premiere globally on Sunday, July 23.
FYI: Nicole is wearing a Saint Laurent dress at the launch. She’s wearing Ferragamo with Mikimoto earrings at the photo call. Zoe is wearing Victoria Beckham at the photo call.
Browse through the gallery for 40+ photos from the events…
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Zoe Saldana is opening up about leading Taylor Sheridan‘s newest series, Special Ops: Lioness.
inspiration for Paramount’s forthcoming action thriller “Special Ops: Lioness,” which debuts Sunday and stars Zoe Saldaña, 45, alongside Oscar winners Nicole Kidman, 56, and Morgan Freeman, 86. The eight-part series — a brainchild of Taylor Sheridan, the visionary behind “Yellowstone” and “Sons of Anarchy” — follows the journey of a young Marine named Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveria, 31, of Netflix’s “Locke & Key”).She’s recruited by the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to befriend the daughter of a terrorist group leader in an effort to ravage the criminal organization. Saldaña, who plays “Joe,” the station chief charged with readying new recruits for undercover operations, explains the significance of the niche program to De Oliveira’s “Manuelos” in the first episode, noting the evolution of their task force’s duties over the past two decades. “When the Lioness team was first formed we needed female soldiers to frisk and interrogate female insurgents,” she says. “What we do now is locate the wives and the girlfriends and daughters of these high value targets and we place an operative close to them,” continues Joe.
Say what you will about the melodramatic, often episodic, and currently-stretched-thin writing of Taylor Sheridan, the multi-hyphenate Paramount+ impresario; not only does he know how to craft a gripping opening sequence, he knows how to elegantly employ it to launch an entire story, character arc and plot of a show. Known for his acclaimed gritty and muscular screenwriting (the Academy Award-nominated “Hell Or High Water,” “Sicario”)— and seemingly writing, running, overseeing, and managing a dozen Paramount+ shows, including the hit series “Yellowstone”— his latest is the CIA espionage thriller, “Special Ops: Lioness.” Zoe Saldaña (“Guardians Of The Galaxy”) stars as Joe, the Lioness Program director tasked with training, managing, and leading her female undercover operatives in covert missions around the world.
Alison Herman TV Critic The women in Taylor Sheridan projects tend to be lone wolves. They also tend to fit into specific, narrow archetypes: the vulnerable naif (Kate Macer in “Sicario”; Jane Banner in “Wind River”); the ferocious badass (Beth Dutton in “Yellowstone”; Hannah Faber in “Those Who Wish Me Dead”); the steely matriarch (Beth’s ancestors Margaret and Cara, who anchor the “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883” and “1923”). The screenwriter is himself a lone wolf, posing for magazine covers in a cowboy hat while denigrating the use of writers’ rooms, and rose to the top of Hollywood’s hierarchy in part through a shameless embrace of genre tropes. Sheridan’s latest series for the streaming service Paramount+ takes its title from another kind of predator — one who travels in packs. “Special Ops: Lioness” isn’t just the first Sheridan show to feature a true multiplicity of female leads; it’s also the first to have an explicitly gendered premise. But just because “Lioness” features more women protagonists doesn’t mean Sheridan has grown any more nuanced in his depiction of them.
Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana are big names with lots in common - they’ve both played superheroes, they’re international superstars and they’re acting together in Paramount+ thriller Special Ops: Lioness. However, it was the pair’s identical star signs that ultimately forged their friendship on set.
Obviously, Taylor Sheridan is the king of Paramount+. The creator of “Yellowstone” and seemingly a dozen other shows, Sheridan, was an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (“Sicario,” “Hell Or High Water”), but soon began growing by leaps and bounds, directing “Wind River” in 2017 and then was essentially given the keys to TV on Paramount as a writer, director, showrunner, producer and THE man who runs things there.
Zoe Saldaña acknowledges the controversy that surrounded her portrayal of Nina Simone. In a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Saldaña opened up about her new series “Special Ops: Lioness,” and about her career, including the harsh criticism she received when playing the role of Simone in the year 2016. Zoe Saldaña and Adria Arjona will celebrate Marco Perego’s ‘The Absence of Eden’ at the Taormina Film FestivalZoe Saldaña almost missed the opportunity of working alongside Nicole Kidman“I should have never accepted the part,” said Saldaña.
Zoe Saldaña’s latest project was a dream come true.
Laysla De Oliveira still can’t believe she got to work with such huge names on “Special Ops: Lioness”.
Nicole Kidman is aware of the chatter surrounding her February 2022 Vanity Fair cover.
Nicole Kidman is speaking out about her fashion choices.
The red carpet premiere of Paramount+ series, Special Ops: Lioness, is not moving forward due to the SAG-AFTRA Strike.
Will Ferrell is seen out with his entire family, but that's exactly what transpired Wednesday in London at the premiere.The 55-year-old funny man was seen out with his wife, Viveca Paulin, dressed to the nine alongside the couple's three sons — Magnus, 19, Mattias, 16, and Axel, 13. Ferrell almost looked like his character in Greta Gerwig's highly anticipated look inside Barbie Land, in which Ferrell plays a human.
Nicole Kidman is opening up about how she got involved from just being a producer on Special Ops: Lioness, to being one of its’ stars.
EXCLUSIVE: Nicole Kidman hadn’t figured on taking an acting role in the latest entry in the Taylor Sheridan universe, Special Ops: Lioness. Then she got hooked.
Nearly every member of the Barbie cast was in attendance for the European premiere!
, who can wear sweats and a bandeau top one minute and a ball gown on the FROW of Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda show the next, or Sienna Miller, who can pull off denim Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots at Glastonbury and then linen suiting and platforms at Wimbledon. It appears that Nicole Kidman’s wardrobe has multitudes, too, as she showcases two very different looks all in one day.Kidman, who is now in London on a press tour for the new Paramount series Special Ops: Lioness, served up head-to-toe glamour to a screening at Tate Modern last night.
Zoe Saldaña is looking back at the opportunity presented to her by starring in creator Taylor Sheridan's new Paramount+ drama, — and how she almost missed out.Saldaña spoke with ET at the premiere of the new series at the Tate Britain in London, England, on Tuesday — where she walked the red carpet alongside co-star Nicole Kidman — and she opened up about joining onto the series after finishing her work on the and franchises.«It feels great being here, feels wonderful knowing that two or three years ago I was whispering to myself just how disheartened I was, because I had reached a peak in my life where I wanted to challenge myself,» she explained. «I wanted to see what was out there beyond these amazing franchises, that have granted me so many opportunities but have also taken so much of my time.»"[I felt] I can be, I don't know, challenging myself a little more, and then Taylor called in the middle of the pandemic and presented me this opportunity," she continued.
Nicole Kidman is diving into «new territory» with creator Taylor Sheridan's latest Paramount+ series, Special Ops: Lioness.Inspired by a real-life U.S. military program, the series follows the life of Joe (Zoe Saldaña) while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA's spear in the war on terror.