New York Film Festival: The ‘Emilia Perez’ journey from opera to movie musical (to Oscar winner?)
“I always knew that it had to be musical,” said director Jacques Audiard at the New York Film Festival about his unique new film, “Emilia Pérez,” which tells the story of a Mexican drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) who undergoes a gender transition with the help of a beleaguered lawyer (Zoe Salda?a) — through song! Audiard was joined by Gascon, Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and édgar Ramírez to talk about their unconventional awards contender. Watch their entire discussion above.
SEE‘Emilia Perez’ final trailer: Netflix pulls back the curtain on top Oscars contender
“For a while, I was thinking about my relationship in terms of what cinema is and what music is,” Audiard explained. “That led to opera, and how do I decide when the libretto ends and when the musical comedy starts? Well, if it had continued to be an opera, Clément Ducol would have had to write two hours more of music.” So it became a film, and “I’m not sure if the quality of a movie depends on the pleasure we have while making it, but I did experience huge pleasure working with all these people, my friends, and therefore it might be a masterpiece.”
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“I think my soul left my body,” described Salda?a about her initial conversation with Audiard. “It was confusing, but exciting and so fresh and nuanced.” Gascón, meanwhile, felt that the title character “was such a gift, and an even bigger gift to be able to play her from beginning to end. I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity.” Gomez felt that working with a filmmaker like Audiard “was like a dream to me because I don’t think a lot of directors would take chances on me for annoying obvious reasons.” So she properly auditioned and learned the songs and felt like she truly earned the part.
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“I don’t want to sin by a lack of modesty, but I think it’s very unique, and I think there’s very few actors, right now at least, that can interpret such a character, and I hope it won’t be like this forever,” Gascón pointed out. “But the opportunity to do this character in her two physical states … It’s really been a gift, but it was a lot of hard work.” The Spanish actress had to alter her accent to play a Mexican woman. She also had to capture Emilia’s movements and her voice, both before and after her gender transition. “They cut the dance because I couldn’t do that.”
Dance or no dance, Gascón is poised to make history as the first transgender woman to be nominated for, and perhaps even win the Oscar for Best Actress. She currently ranks second in our racetrack odds with six Expert journalists currently betting on her to prevail. Salda?a, meanwhile, is the odds-on favorite for Best Supporting Actress, with Gomez ranked among the top seven candidates for that award. The three of them, along with Paz, jointly won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. But what about Best Picture? Can a crime musical really win? Well, that has actually already happened, with “Chicago” (2002). And there are nine Experts who say it’ll happen again.
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