‘Emilia Pérez’ Director Jacques Audiard Includes Karla Sofía Gascón In “Beloved Actresses” In Medallion Speech – DGA Awards

At the DGA Awards on Saturday night, The Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard included lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón when he thanked “his beloved actresses” despite all the controversy swirling around Gascón and Audiard’s recent interview with Deadline in which he said, “I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to.”

In his speech as he accepted the DGA medallion for his nomination in the top prize category, Audiard said, via translator, “The last word is for my wonderful cast, my beloved actresses, Karla, Zoë, Selena, Adriana and Edgar, who is not an actress.”

It’s been posited that the unearthing of Gascon’s previous controversial comments on X could plunge the awards trajectory of Emilia Pérez into a downward spiral, but with a win Friday night at the Critics Choice Award for Zoë Saldaña in Best Supporting Actress, it may not be over yet for the film that also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramirez.

In the wake of the recent revelations, the Oscar-nominated Gascon scaled back appearances and was not in attendance at the Critics Choice awards Friday night, despite being nominated there for Best Actress, nor was she in attendance Saturday at the DGA Awards. Whether she will attend the Oscars—where the film has a leading 13 nominations—remains in question.

At the DGA, Saldaña gave a speech introducing Audiard’s DGA nomination in the Theatrical Film category—all nominees in the category are presented with a DGA medallion. She said, “Art can speak truth to power, and it can be a catalyst for change, and it can connect us all to our shared humanity.”

Audiard thanked Saldaña and congratulated her on her Critics Choice Award win for Supporting Actress the night before. He cited the “marvelous support of the people by my side” for whom he is “forever grateful”.

As for who will take home the much-coveted DGA prize for Theatrical Feature Film tonight, watch this space. Along with Audiard, the nominees are Sean Baker for Anora, Edward Berger for Conclave, James Mangold for A Complete Unknown and Brady Corbet for The Brutalist.