Selena Gomez launches Oscar-nominated film at London Film Festival

American singer and actress Selena Gomez joined the co-stars of her Oscar-winning film Emilia on the red carpet at the London Film Festival on Friday. Pérez) UK premiere.

The Spanish-language musical was one of the hit films at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and Gomez shared the best actress award with her three co-stars.

Others – Zoe Saldanha, Adriana Paz, Carla Sofia Gascon – appeared with Gomez in London, where the film hopes to continue at the awards ceremony Keep the momentum going.

Emilia Pérez tells the story of a Mexican drug cartel leader (Gascon) who asks a high-powered lawyer named Rita (Saldanha) to help him fake his die.

But the reason he wants to retire and disappear from the world of crime isn’t what you might think – the drug cartel leader wants to change gender and start a new life as a woman.

The rest of the film focuses on four women, including the newly transformed Emilia Perez, each pursuing their own happiness in modern-day Mexico.

Perez is played by Argentinian transgender actress Gascon, who is considered a strong contender for best actress in the upcoming awards competition.

Gomez plays the drug lord’s wife who is unaware of her ex-lover’s new identity, while Paz plays Emilia’s new love interest after her gender transition.

All four leads hit the red carpet ahead of the film’s UK premiere at the Royal Festival Hall on Friday as part of the London Film Festival.

French director Jacques Audiard came up with the idea for the film after reading a chapter about a drug lord’s changing identities in Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute.

Odia went a step further with this film and turned it into a story about gender transition.

“I was less interested in changing her identity to escape a rival drug lord and more interested in changing her identity for who she was and is,” the director told BBC News. “I was more interested in the past. .

The role called for a very specific person—a trans actress who spoke Spanish and could sing and dance.

Recalling the casting process, Gascón told BBC News: “The production team contacted me while I was in Mexico and told me ‘We need an actress as crazy as you – you’re the only one who can do this role’ Man, but you need to learn five songs tomorrow!

“I was like, ‘Okay, let’s record the whole album and we can go on tour if you want!'” she joked. The team at , they work really well with me and they really help me with all the songs so that we can make the best work possible.

When asked about Gascón’s casting, O’Dea simply added: “There would be no film without her.”

Interestingly, the actress strives to play both male and female characters – in other words, roles before and after her transformation.

O’Dea originally planned to cast another actor to play the male drug lord Manitas, the director explained, because he was “reluctant to ask for it.” [Gascón] Revisiting the things she was moving away from”.

But, Gascón recalled: “I said to Jacques that I wanted to play this character in a complete arc because it was important to me to complete the complete part. If it had been played by another actor, this movie wouldn’t be the same Same movie [Manitas]”.

She explained that this meant using special effects and makeup, such as a fake mustache, so she could play the drug lord in the first part of the musical.

“What makes this movie what it is is the complete performance by the same actress,” Gascón continued. “It’s a role you only get to play in a lifetime and I didn’t want to lose the chance to play it.”

“Emilia Perez” will be released on Netflix next month, and so far, reviews have been generally positive.

“It’s a wild, gritty, sparkling journey that defies convention and categorization,” Said Entertainment Weekly’s Maureen Lee Lenk.

She praised the film’s performances, commenting: “Selena Gomez is a welcome surprise, shedding any residual hint of her Disney Channel origins in her portrayal of a drug lord’s wife.

“The film’s climax, in particular, allows Gomez to shine as a dramatic actress in new ways. She conveys heartache and anguish through her tortured body, pushing her into the unpredictability of a woman on the edge of danger. state.

People also praised Gascón as a “wonderful discovery” and gave a “wonderful performance”, According to David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.

Tim Robey of The Telegraph describes The film is “astonishingly confident – it’s smart, earnest, ridiculous, insightful, powerful and absolutely crazy”, while Hoai-Tran Bui from Inverse says It was “an emotionally satisfying victory.”

However, not all critics were enthusiastic about the film.

“Emilia Pérez was originally intended to be an opera, which may partly explain its sweet pathos, repetitive lyrics and different story branches. But that doesn’t make it almost arbitrary. , an excuse for a nerve-wracking tone base. Slant’s Kyle Turner said.

However, Lauren Bradshaw of Fangirl Freakout said: “Emilia Pérez is a majestic, genre-bending thrill ride that transcends typical movie structures and brings fresh excitement to the way we think about cinema.”

As an actress, Gomez is best known for her role in “Murder in the Building,” but she also has a successful singing career, singing “Back to You,” “Wolf” and “Love You Like a Love Song,” among others Hot songs.

Saldanha, meanwhile, has starred in numerous blockbusters over the past two decades, with roles in the “Avatar” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchises.

It remains to be seen whether Emilia Perez will be the big winner, but Academy voters may see an opportunity to recognize Saldanha’s box office success with this critically acclaimed work.

Their co-star Adriana Paz is a Mexican actress whose credits include “Not Forgotten,” “Hilda” and “La Caridad.”

But the film’s breakout star is undoubtedly Gascón, who already had a successful acting career before his 2018 transition.

Rooney praised her performance in his review: “Warmth, joyful self-realization, complexity and authenticity… [Gascón’s] There’s no doubt that the characterization owes a lot to the parallels in the Spanish star’s life – in her own words, she was an actor before she was an actress, and she was a father before she was a mother. “

Emilia Pérez has been selected as France’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Film in March.

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