Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón let loose in thrilling new Emilia Pérez trailer
Selena Gomez and trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón star in Emilia Pérez. (Netflix)
A new trailer for Emilia Pérez starring for Selena Gomez and trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón has just dropped, and the Oscars buzz is only getting louder.
Hype for the Spanish-language French crime comedy drama operatic musical thriller – yes, really – has been building for months, especially since Spanish star Gascón became the first trans woman to win a best actress gong at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Gascón plays Emilia, a feared Mexican cartel boss who enlists high-powered but under-appreciated lawyer Rita Moro Castro (Avatar and Star Trek‘s Zoe Saldaña) to help fake her own death, so she can undergo gender reassignment surgery and live as her authentic self.
It’s a decision that has huge consequences for both Emilia and Rita, as well as for Emilia’s wife Jessi, played by music superstar and Wizards of Waverly Place actress Selena Gomez.
In the harrowing new trailer, Rita seemingly realises who Emilia is at their first chilling meeting.
The two-minute clip doesn’t give much of the storyline away, but it proves why all four leading stars – Gascón, Gomez, Saldaña and Mexican actress Adriana Paz – all received that best actress accolade at Cannes.
From black body-bags to blazing fires, gun-slinging to ground-shaking drama, it appears that Emilia Pérez is unlike any other film released this year. Or, as Vogue France said: it’s set to be the best musical of the decade.
There’s a little taste of the musical numbers in the trailer, too. In one scene, Saldaña is seen kneeling on a table performing in what looks like white underwear, while another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot shows “Bad Liar” singer Gomez screaming into the void while dancers thrust around her.
Emilia Pérez is directed by Jacques Audiard, and Netflix, where the film will stream, describe it as an “operatic, energetic tale of love and loss” and “an audacious fever-dream that defies genres and expectations”.
Gascón said: “You have an action movie that’s not an action movie, a drama that’s not a drama, a comedy that’s not a comedy. It is such a great gift and I’m so proud to be part of it.”
Gomez has previously revealed that the film “changed her life” because she “learned so much about [herself]” while filming it. Speaking to Access Hollywood, she reflected on it being mentioned as a possible Oscars contender. “I’m shaking right now. I don’t know, I’m just happy that the movie is getting the attention it deserves,” she said.
Emilia Pérez is due to be released in the UK and Ireland on 25 October, and in US and Canadian cinemas on 1 November. It is set to stream on Netflix from 13 November.
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