New Delhi:
Huma Qureshi calls her upcoming Hollywood project, Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, a "natural progression" in her career, after working with celebrated Indian filmmakers from the West - Gurinder Chadha and Deepa Mehta. She credits her innings on Netflix Originals series Leila, co-directed by Mehta, for her casting in Snyder's comeback to the zombie genre.
"'Leila' received a lot of appreciation and I believe some of that helped me as a lot of international filmmakers follow what we are making out of India. My journey has always been like that.
"After working with Gurinder Chadha and Deepa Mehta, I guess working with Zack Snyder was a natural progression. So yeah, collaborating with the director of '300' was really exciting," the actor told PTI in an interview.
Army of the Dead is set in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas and follows a group of mercenaries who take the ultimate gamble by venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.
Talking about Snyder, whose filmography boasts of big Hollywood projects like "300", "Man of Steel", "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Justice League", Huma said she found him to be quite "organic" in his approach.
"Zack is a very organic director. He is very cool and gives you the space to perform. He's instinctive, which is great because I am an instinctive actor. I don't like to over prepare.
"There was one thing I really loved about Zack. I had this image of him as a very macho director, it's all about guns, action and muscles. All of his films are very macho. But I feel like he's such an equalist."
She added that many of the crew members were women and that was a refreshing experience. "I found that to be so amazing. As a woman, it makes you feel great to work on a set that is so equal. It's great to have a work environment that provides equal opportunity to women."
The Netflix movie features Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista in the lead and Huma said it was a memorable experience to work with him. "He is an amazing guy. One of the nicest people I've met, so kind, so gentle. He has the softest and kindest voice in the world. He really took care of me and watched out for me. I'm so glad that I developed such great friendships with him and so many others people."
Army of the Dead will premiere on the streaming platform next year.
