Everything We Know About Jacques Audiard’s ‘Emilia Pérez’ Heading Into Awards Season

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Netflix’s Emilia Pérez could be about to sweep awards season. The main trio of actresses that drive the story are nominated in the early rounds of red carpets and awards ceremonies, namely the Golden Globes — with ten noms — as well as the BAFTAs — where it leads the longlist with Conclave.

After entering the conversation in May 2024, the Spanish musical crime comedy arrived on Netflix last November. For all the details about the work that stars Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and more, read below:

What is Emilia Pérez about?

The story follows Saldaña’s Rita, a lawyer who is overqualified but also overlooked at her large law firm, which aims more just to get criminals out of trouble than to actually serve them justice. Rita gets an unexpected opportunity to exit this situation when Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón), the leader of a notorious cartel, hires her to help him withdraw from that world so that he can transition into a woman.

“In the novel, the character was not a small-time dealer. He was a full-fledged cartel boss,” Audiard told Deadline. “But what really struck me is that the author of the novel, in the subsequent chapters, did not develop this character at all. And that’s what really intrigued me, and that’s where my imagination started to go into action.”

The story is based on director Jaques Audiard’s opera of the same name, which was loosely based on the novel Écoute by Boris Razon. The characters in that book were male.

“I’m so happy that [Jacques] was just present enough to listen and to understand his own story and where it needed to go, and then assigned the right gender to these characters that needed them,” Saldaña told Deadline. “And I really commend him for that. I think that I really want to work with filmmakers that write characters like that where a woman or a man can play that character because then and only then will we be giving women the better opportunities to be a part of great stories.

Who directed Emilia Pérez?

Audiard brought the Spanish-language movie musical to life. He also wrote the screenplay with frequent collaborator Thomas Bidegain.

Who is in the cast of Emilia Pérez?

Aside from Zoe Saldaña and Gascón, the movie musical also stars Selena Gomez as Jessi, Edgar Ramírez as Gustavo Brun, Adriana Paz as Epifania, Mark Ivanir as Wasserman, Eduardo Aladro as Berlinger, Emiliano Hasan as Gabriel Mendoza and more.

For Saldaña, the Spanish-language aspect of the film felt like a way for her to come to life for a part of her that had lain dormant.

“Being able to play a character like Rita in an all-Spanish movie meant that I was able to utilize more parts of my identity into my craft,” she told Deadline after she was nominated for a Golden Globe for the role. “So that was extremely rewarding to rediscover all that I can do when I’m given the ability to be more myself, to explore more. It reminded me of the kind of artist that I am and who I choose to be, and I just wish more of that in the future for myself.”

Is Emilia Pérez a musical?

Yes, the film contains several musical numbers, many of which are nominated for Golden Globes and other awards.

When did Emilia Pérez premiere?

The film earned an 11-minute standing ovation at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival last May. The film later arrived on Netflix for streaming in November 2024.

Does Jaques Audiard have other films?

Yes, the filmmaker wrote and directed Rust and Bone (2012) and Dheepan (2015) as well as Paris, 13th District (2021), which also made its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. He also wrote and directed four episodes of The Bureau.

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