‘Emilia Perez’ will officially campaign for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars
Netflix will campaign Jacques Audiard’s genre-bending original musical “Emilia Perez” in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for next year’s Oscars ceremony.
Variety revealed the studio’s decision on Thursday morning, confirming what industry experts and observers had long anticipated. (“Emilia Perez” was already moved from Best Original Screenplay to Best Adapted Screenplay in the Gold Derby predictions center last month.) Audiard has frequently spoken about how “Emilia Perez” was very loosely inspired by a character – one not named Emilia Perez – in the Boris Razon 2018 novel “écoute.” The filmmaker had originally conceived of “Emilia Perez” as a four-act opera but later evolved the project into its current form, a musical crime drama focusing on a drug cartel kingpin who undergoes gender-confirmation surgery and renames herself Emilia Perez. Karla Sofia Gascon stars as the title character and is widely expected to make history as the first trans actress nominated for Best Actress. Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, and Adrianna Paz all co-star. The four actresses won the Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Audiard’s film also took home a jury honor.
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In addition to being campaigned as an adapted screenplay, Variety also reported that “Emilia Perez” is not eligible for Writers Guild Awards consideration as the feature is not a WGA signatory.
The now-official news should help clarify the two screenplay races at the Oscars. With “Emilia Perez” out of the original category, most expect Sean Baker to continue as a heavy frontrunner for “Anora.” Other top contenders in the category include Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold for “The Brutalist,” Jesse Eisenberg for “A Real Pain,” Steve McQueen for “Blitz,” Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan for “Saturday Night,” Mike Leigh for “Hard Truths,” and Tim Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder, and Alex David for “September 5.”
In the adapted category, where “Emilia Perez” has been set for weeks, the film is currently ranked fifth in the Gold Derby odds. The other expected nominees there include “Sing Sing,” “Conclave,” “Nickel Boys,” and “Dune: Part Two.” Other contenders there include “The Room Next Door,” “The Piano Lesson,” and “The Wild Robot.”
Musicals are often overlooked in the screenplay categories – and the only musical to ever win for its script is “Gigi.”
Netflix will debut “Emilia Perez” in limited release on November 1 before it hits the streamer on November 13.
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