Oscars crisis: ‘Emilia Pérez’ star could ‘skip’ SAGs and Academy Awards as movie campaign ‘implodes’

Nobody wants this, truly.

Netflix may have scored a whopping 13 Oscar nominations for “Emilia Pérez” — including Best Picture — but, following a scandal with the movie’s Best Actress nominee, Karla Sofía Gascón, even the streamer’s CEO has appeared to distance himself.

Power player Ted Sarandos sat with Erin Foster, the creator of Netflix’s hit series “Nobody Wants This” at the American Film Institute’s annual lunch on Thursday — and away from the “Pérez” team, which included writer/director Jacques Audiard and co-star Zoe Saldaña.

Stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez were feted by Netflix boss Ted Sarandos at The French American Film Festival premiere of Netflix’s “Emilia Perez” in October 2024. FilmMagic

The seating arrangement was the talk of the event, Page Six is told, as it comes after Gascón, 52, has drawn fire with newly resurfaced racist and anti-Muslim tweets.

“In 40 years in this business, I’ve never seen a debacle like ‘Emilia Pérez,'” said one longtime Hollywood insider who has worked on many Academy Awards campaigns.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos (second from right) sat with Erin Foster (left), the creator of Netflix hit “Nobody Wants This,” and her sister Sara Foster at a recent AFI lunch. They were joined by their father, musician and producer David Foster. Getty Images for AFI Erin posted photos of her and Sara posing with Sarandos at the AFI lunch, on social media. Erin Foster / Instagram

Oscar battles are infamously an expensive — and often dirty — business. Studios and streamers can spend up to $30 million to get their nominees up on the podium. And Netflix is said to really, really want the Best Picture award which has, so far, eluded its efforts.

“‘Emilia Pérez’ is over for Best Picture … it imploded,” the insider said. “It still has a shot for Best Foreign Film, it depends on whether Academy voters want to punish the entire cast for one woman’s mistake. It’s so sad and horrible for all the people that made that wonderful film.”

Although Gascón continues to be repped by mega talent agency UTA, Page Six has confirmed that she is now looking for crisis management.

Oscar nominee Zoe Saldaña (second from riht) sat with her “Emilia Pérez” co-stars Adriana Paz and Édgar Ramírez at the AFI lunch alongside director Jacques Audiard (left). Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, sat at their table. Getty Images for AFI

Netflix did not pay for Gascón to fly to the US from Spain for crucial days of campaigning, and multiple sources said that she may not attend the SAG awards on February 23 in Los Angeles. Indeed, she may not even attend the Oscars on March 2 — although she was in a New York Times ad last weekend and is in billboards along Sunset Boulevard, paid for by Netflix.

“Do you think [the Screen Actors Guild] is going to let her through the door on the red carpet?” said the insider, “They are not admitting her to their temple. “If she was smart she wouldn’t go to the Oscars, which is really, really so woke.”

A source close to the film said: “At this point we really don’t know if Karla is going to the Oscars. Netflix is still actively campaigning for all 13 nominations, the only thing that is different is that Karla is not doing anything.”

Gascón denied that she was a racist in a teary appearance on CNN en Español. CNN Espanol Gascón gave the acceptance speech when “Emilia Pérez” won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in January. Penske Media via Getty Images

Netflix did not respond to requests for comment.

With regards to the AFI lunch, which had been pushed back due to the tragic LA wildfires, the film source pointed out that Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, sat with the “Pérez” team and said the seating plans had been worked out well in advance. “Ted went between the two tables all day long,” said the source.

“It’s a long and difficult and expensive and harrowing road to the Oscars,” said the insider. “It can get very very nasty. During campaigning, people can try to discredit their rivals. They will find skeletons in the closet.”

No one had to look too hard to find Gascón’s, which journalist Sarah Hagi discovered right in her X history.

Saldaña plays a downtrodden lawyer who helps a cartel boss, played by Gascón, undergo a sex change in “Emilia Pérez.” AP Saldaña posed with Sarandos at the movie’s Hollywood premiere in October. She is hot favorite to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar after scooping a Golden Globe in January. Getty Images for Netflix

The star — who made history as the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for Best Actress — tweeted that George Floyd was a “drug addict swindler” just days after he was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, spurring nationwide protests.

“Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic,” she wrote of her town in Spain.

Of the 2021 Oscars, she tweeted: “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M … apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.” She also dubbed her co-star Selena Gomez a “rich rat.”

Demi Moore, seen here accepting her Golden Globe in January, is now seen by many as the favorite to win the Best Actress Oscar for “The Substance.” Penske Media via Getty Images

Gascón, who deleted her X account, denied she is racist in a tearful interview with CNN en Español. On Thursday, she apologized to “everyone who has been hurt along the way” in an Instagram post.

“She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing,” her director Audiard told Deadline. “Why is she harming herself? … I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”

We have reached out to Gascón for comment.

Hollywood is buzzing with questions about why Gascón’s social history was not vetted by Netflix, which now has a huge awards team that spans all the continents

Before his #MeToo disgrace, Harvey Weinstein orchestrated many Oscar campaigns — sometimes deviously — including winning Best Picture for “Shakespeare in Love,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, over “Saving Private Ryan” in 1999. Getty Images

“When you’re a nobody that’s when people should be cleaning up your s––t,” said the boss of one digital agency, who charges around $10k to scrub social media histories. “One of the first things you do is a full audit … from social media to old accounts.”

Gascón “didn’t even think these tweets were detrimental to her campaign and didn’t think to pay to have them erased. She didn’t think to hide them,” said the Hollywood insider. “How can she allow Netflix to spend millions and millions of dollars to promote her and not protect Netflix and herself? Netflix was creating a new life for her. She got paid $100,000 for that film, the stakes were so high — how could you not deal with this?

Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in “I’m Still Here,” which Variety predicts has a good shot of winning Best Picture. ©Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Chalamet has done an unusual Oscars campaign – including a stunt doubling as the host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” last month. Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images

“Netflix has every right to be furious with her. They were making her a star.”

The price of vetting a nominee’s social media history is tiny compared to the cost of courting Oscar voters through screenings, for-your-consideration ads — which can cost $25,000 a pop — and lavish parties.

A senior Hollywood awards strategist, who has worked on multiple Oscar-winning campaigns, said that Netflix could have spent anywhere between $20-30 million on its “Emilia Pérez” push.

The king of campaigns was once Harvey Weinstein, the now-convicted rapist who, along with his brother, Bob, won a string of Oscars with their company Miramax.

Moore, who plays a washed-up star in “The Substance,” gave a blockbuster speech at the Globes which gave her Oscar hopes a boost, insiders said. AP

One was nabbed in a now-famous Best Picture battle between “Saving Private Ryan” and Miramax’s “Shakespeare in Love” in 1999.

“For Shakespeare in Love, we used the playbook for The English Patient — turbocharged, on steroids,” said Mark Gill, then Miramax’s LA President, told the Hollywood Reporter in 2019. “It was just absolutely murderous the whole way through. I mean, the hours were ridiculous and the demands were insane, just unbelievably crazy stuff.”

“Things reached a head when word spread that Harvey was secretly badmouthing ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to journalists,” leaving “Saving Private Ryan” director Spielberg fuming, Gill added.

Other Harvey tricks included putting out a press release that the late Queen Elizabeth II had seen “The King’s Speech,” which won Best Picture in 2011. She had not.

Moore faces competition from Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here.” Both won Golden Globes last month. CBS via Getty Images

With Gascón all but out of the race, Netflix is said to be putting extra focus on “Emilia Pérez” co-star Saldaña winning in the Best Supporting Actress category. Best Actress, meanwhile, is believed to be between Demi Moore for “The Substance” and Fernanda Torres in “I’m Still Here” — despite the resurfacing of Torres wearing blackface in a Brazilian TV comedy sketch from 17 years ago. (She apologized for it last month.)

And Timothée Chalamet’s “A Complete Unknown” may benefit from the “Emilia Pérez” scandal and scoop up a Best Picture gong — Variety predicted as much this week, while many other sites are betting on “Conclave.”

The recent LA wildfires that cost some stars, directors, writers and crew members their homes have cast a shadow over Oscars campaign season, with some wondering: Does it look tacky and craven to chase awards right now?

Best Actor nominee Chalamet, for one, has played his cards well — campaigning outside LA in creative ways, like his Jan. 26 stunt as both host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” where he joked about his multiple awards show losses in his young career.

“The one thing that’s not a complete unknown this awards season, how badly Timmy wants to win,” joked the strategist.