Emilia Pérez: Cast, Trailer, Release Date and Plot of Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez Musical Drama (original) (raw)

Emilia Pérez Is a Musical Story of Rebirth
Jacques Audiard’s new film stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez.

Like its titular character, Emilia Pérez is many things. “You have a musical that is not a musical, an action movie that’s not an action movie, a drama that’s not a drama, a comedy that’s not a comedy,” star Karla Sofía Gascón told Netflix. “It is such a great gift, and I’m so proud to be part of it.”

Writer-director Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez tells the story of high-powered lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) who takes on an unexpected assignment: helping a Mexican cartel leader (Gascón) fake their death and undergo sex-reassignment operations.

“Rita wishes that she would just have this one opportunity, just any opportunity that will make her break out and break this glass ceiling that she finds herself never being able to shatter,” Saldaña said. “And when the opportunity presents itself, she doesn’t think twice. She just takes it.” So the cartel leader begins a new life under a new name — Emilia Pérez.

That decision changes not just the lives of Rita and Emilia, but also that of Emilia’s wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez). “In the beginning of the film, Jessi is very much content with the life that she’s living with the family in Mexico, and that’s kind of where she was rooted,” Gomez said. “I think she gets so discombobulated once there is a sudden move, and she doesn’t know what to do.”

When Emilia abruptly returns to Rita and Jessi’s life, the stage is set for a collision course that will upend their circumstances all over again. Set to music by
Clément Ducol and Camille, Emilia Pérez is an operatic, energetic tale of love and loss.At the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May, Audiard and his cast were met with a lengthy standing ovation and multiple accolades; Audiard took home the Festival’s Jury Prize, and Gascón, Saldaña, Gomez and their co-star Adriana Paz shared Best Actress.

Check out a teaser above and read on to learn more.

Zoe Saldaña as Rita Moro Castro in ‘Emilia Pérez.’

What is Emilia Pérez about?

From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes Emilia Pérez, an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations. Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. Written and directed by Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet), the double Cannes-winning film also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Édgar Ramírez.

Audiard was initially inspired by Boris Razon’s novel Écoute,but the book only served as a starting point. “Halfway through the book, a transgender drug dealer comes along who wishes to have surgery,” Audiard said. “As the character wasn’t that developed over the following chapters, I decided to start my story there.”

Saldaña leapt at the opportunity to work with Audiard, but it took a moment to wrap her head around the film’s script. “It was described to me as this film noir that didn’t really exist in any of the conventional kind of genres, but it was a musical,” she said. “It was actually an opera, and based in a crime world, but there was going to be a sense of justice, and validation, and sanctification. And I was just like, ‘What?’ I had to read it more than once. And then, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

Who is in the cast of Emilia Pérez?

Emilia Pérez stars:

The title part was a dream come true for Gascón. “Emilia Pérez is a phenomenal role,” Gascón said. “It’s a dream role that is hard to find because it has so much depth, so much richness. And for an actor to get into it, it needs a lot of dedication, and a lot of work because you have two voices that also sing with a Mexican accent. It is so huge.”

Audiard planned much of the production around making sure Saldaña could participate. “Zoe ticked all the boxes all at once — she could sing and dance as a lead dancer; plus, her acting is strikingly charismatic,” he said. “She really wanted to do the film, but she was busy. We waited for her for a year.”

The third side of _Emilia Pérez’_s triangle is Selena Gomez, who made quite the impression on Audiard at their first meeting. “I met Selena Gomez one morning in New York,” he recalled. “I remembered her from Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, but I hardly knew anything about her. In 10 minutes, I knew it would be her. I actually told her, and she wouldn’t believe me. When we called her a year later to tell her that the film was greenlit, she thought I’d forgotten about her!”

Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez and Adriana Paz as Epifanía in ‘Emilia Pérez.’

When will Emilia Pérez be on Netflix?

Emilia Pérez will hit select theaters this fall, before landing on Netflix on Nov. 13 in the US, Canada, and the UK. Gascón is staying tight-lipped about her character. “Do you know what I’m going to say?” she said. “It’s that you have to watch the movie. I’m not going to tell you about Emilia Pérez, you have to watch [her].”

Additional reporting by James Reed.

Shop EMILIA PÉREZ

Discover More Deep Dive

Discover More Musicals

Latest News