Actors Selena Gomez, Edgar Ramirez, Zoë Saldaña, Adriana Paz & Karla Sofia Gascón break down the love story at the heart of 'Emilia Perez' at the Variety Studio at TIFF.
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00:00One can be just so lucky to be with you, ladies.
00:04Oh my god, I loved him.
00:08I only say past tense because I have a new love in my life, sorry.
00:13But it was a blast.
00:30Good to see you all. I'm a big fan of the movie.
00:40Congratulations on all the success.
00:43My first question is to you, Carla.
00:45For me? But why you?
00:47You're the star of the film.
00:49The performance is amazing.
00:51In the film, you portray Emilia Perez in two stages of her life.
00:58What did it feel like to play that early stage?
01:03And did it bring back any memories for yourself as you were making your transition as well?
01:09Well, for me, I think I've had a lot of luck.
01:18She's one of those characters that all actors and actresses would like to have in their careers.
01:25I think she's a character that, without sinning out of lack of modesty, is very complicated.
01:36And she's at the level of these great Hollywood actors of all times,
01:43like Marlon Brando in Meryl Streep, or Javier Bardem, or actors of that caliber.
01:51And I think it's a gift that Jacques has given me with this film.
01:57For me, it's been a great challenge to get into the skin of such a complicated character,
02:05with such a big arc, from the beginning of the film to the end.
02:14And changing my voice, my accent, the songs, moving in two different ways...
02:24It's been impressive.
02:27Very fun, very complicated, very hard as well.
02:32Easy, because they've made it easier for me, my colleagues and all the team we had in the film.
02:38But for me, it's a real...
02:41If I have to define it in any way, it's just a gift that life and acting have given me.
02:49I've tried to do my best.
02:53I think it's the first time I see myself on the screen and I have nothing to say to myself.
03:00It's very exciting for me, because it's true that I've spent all my life,
03:08every time I played a character, reproaching myself when I saw myself,
03:13when I said, I could have done this better, I could have done this...
03:17And it's the first time in my career, after 52 years and more than 30 years working,
03:23that I look at myself and I have nothing to say, just thank you.
03:54We may never forgive them, but what she said famously was, it stops now, though.
03:59And it's such an amazing performance. Can you tell me what it's like to take on this role
04:03and finally get to show the fire that is everything that you bring to it?
04:11Thank you. That kind of recognition.
04:14I know we spend so much time and so much effort proving that we don't really need it, but we do.
04:21Art is created by the artist with the purpose of sharing it and for it to be seen
04:28and to be felt and heard and acknowledged.
04:32Because if not, it's really detrimental for the artist, correct?
04:39Being blue and green had its benefits.
04:43The exposure it gave me, the connection it gave me with science fiction,
04:47which I do have a natural affinity for,
04:50also, Avatar was a film that I was able to incorporate so many parts of my craft.
04:58What I think happened with Avatar is there was a lack of understanding.
05:03I still feel that in 2009, 2010, Avatar was way ahead of its time.
05:08Jim has always been ahead of his time.
05:10But now we're going to jump to Emilia.
05:15I was given an opportunity, I think that we all were, independently,
05:20to showcase everything that we consider art and forms of it.
05:30When Jack approached me, not only was I able to sing and to play Rita,
05:37which is the main important thing for me, to sing through Rita and to dance through Rita,
05:42but I also got to speak in my native tongue, and that was incredible.
05:48Being a part of a story that is so important, that is so provocative,
05:52so authentic, fresh, and daring, was to me the highlight of it all.
06:01So, if I ever get these opportunities again,
06:05with the blessing of my family, if they don't need me,
06:09I'll jump on board, because it was repurposeful and quite exhilarating.
06:14Blue and green are great, but melanin is better.
06:16Yes.
06:17I appreciate it.
06:18Selena, I think before Emilia, you were quite well known in the music world.
06:25Yeah.
06:26Doing great things, and what is so great about what you bring to the role,
06:32it's a tricky role, because you could elicit a strong reaction from the audience,
06:36there's a sense of betrayal that comes with it,
06:38but you balance it with such heart and understanding, and it's really hard to do.
06:44Can you talk about getting into that mode and being able to see the character's side,
06:50what you see in everything that she goes through?
06:53I guess I would just say it was Jacques.
06:58I mean, he was the one that saw something in me,
07:03and I remember in the audition, I've done things I had never thought I could do,
07:09just because of how encouraging and the way he saw the character.
07:14I wanted to embody her completely, so adding elements of romance
07:22or having another connection, I wanted it to feel like you were on that journey with her.
07:30But I think he's just great and pulls it out of me,
07:35and then I obviously have these amazing people who have helped me as well.
07:40How many takes of Mikamino did you do to get that?
07:43Oh my gosh, how many takes?
07:45With flash.
07:46How many takes? Oh my gosh, hours.
07:50Hours, yeah.
07:51It was so fun though, we didn't want to stop, it was like karaoke.
07:54It was.
07:55On that day, I came in early.
07:58I got to see part of it, and Anthony Vaccarello was there, the designer of San Loren,
08:03and it was so amazing.
08:05We all had goosebumps.
08:06Yeah, it was really fun.
08:09Adriana, you have a smaller role in the film,
08:13but you make one of the largest impacts of everything that goes on.
08:17One of my favorite songs is your duet with Emilia, it's like the heart of the movie.
08:22Can you talk about getting to that place of portraying a beautiful love story
08:27that actually comes unexpected in a tale that includes crime and music?
08:33Well, just as my colleagues just said, and Carla, this movie is a gift.
08:39I mean, everything on it, the cast, the crew, and Jacques Goliath.
08:44I mean, I admire him as a director, and it's a wild story, it's very risky.
08:52The first time I read the script, I was like, oh my God.
08:56This could be a failure, but it wasn't.
09:01It was amazing.
09:02It's the thing that happens when you take risks.
09:05So I'm so happy to be here sharing with them and portraying Epifania,
09:15which is like Epifania for Emilia and also for Epifania herself.
09:21So I love singing, I love dancing, and have the opportunity to combine acting and dancing.
09:30Everything, the journey has been amazing.
09:34Being in Paris, know them, working with them, with Carla, we had so much fun.
09:40She is amazing.
09:42Everything, it's a gift, I mean, for real.
09:47Edgar, unlike the ladies, we don't like your character in the movie because you do some mean things,
09:55but you also are an integral part to the story.
10:00Anyone else can just look at that role and just say, I have to be kind of terrible,
10:03but you bring some nuance to it.
10:05Can you talk about your approach and sharing your scenes with Selena?
10:09I mean, one man can be just so lucky to support and be at the service of these four amazing artists.
10:18I didn't think it twice.
10:22We all become very close.
10:24I mean, Zoe and I have been friends for a very long time,
10:26but now the four of us are very close.
10:28It's one of those experiences where really the cast gets completely integrated
10:32and we're in each other's life and we became very close personally.
10:38I just love the fact that I think this is a movie about the possibility of change
10:45and the possibility of doing it all over again with whatever that encompasses,
10:53for better and for worse, the possibility of having second chances.
10:58For me as an actor to have the opportunity to play a character that can be in a very specific moment of the story,
11:09kind of like a catalyst for actions that I'm not going to reveal in the film
11:15and see how this movie tells the story of these four women that are claiming and reclaiming their identity,
11:26their authenticity, their agency, their independence,
11:29because in the end that's what they're all, and with all the contradictions,
11:32because the reality is that it's not portrayed in a way that one is a devil and the other one is a saint.
11:38They're everything at the same time.
11:41You know, like the devil and the saint at the same time.
11:44They're all full of contradictions, which is what defines human nature,
11:48and I didn't think it twice.
11:50I mean, it's like when Jacques called me and said,
11:52Edgar, I would love you to be in this movie, and to have the opportunity to fall in love with Selena,
12:00because I believe that love was true, you know?
12:03There was a real love story there.
12:05With all the contradictions and all the passion and all the, you know, the messiness,
12:10because love is messy.
12:12Love is not a straight line.
12:14Love is messy, and I think that no one,
12:18especially these amazing artists and our director,
12:21no one shied away and looked the other way from contradiction.
12:26But remember Edgar.
12:28I know, I know.
12:30Actually, it is a love triangle at some point.
12:33It's a total love triangle.
12:35It's a love triangle at some point, a very unique one that you don't see so often on cinema,
12:42and I think that it's part of the risks, and I mean, come on.
12:46It was an amazing opportunity to be part of this.
12:49As I said, one can be just so lucky to be with you ladies.
12:54Hey Ben.
12:55Selena, you're lucky.
12:57Oh my God, I loved him.
13:01I only say the past tense because I have a new love in my life story.
13:06But it was a blast.
13:08He made it incredibly easy, and was always making sure I was comfortable with whatever I was doing,
13:15and he supported me.
13:17Let's speak about the elephant that isn't here, Jacques.
13:20He didn't want to come see us today, but it's fine.
13:23But I'm one that believes that art is the only universal language that we have in this world.
13:29So we have the French Martin Scorsese essentially coming here and making a Spanish film in Spain
13:37that feels like it's ripped out of Mexico.
13:40It feels like Mexico in Paris where he shot.
13:46Can you talk about Jacques' vision and how you understood that vision to be?
13:53What does it feel like to be directed by him for anyone?
13:58I'll keep it short.
13:59It was absolutely liberating.
14:04He didn't get in Emilia's way.
14:09Jacques wasn't possessive over Emilia, over any of the characters.
14:13Jacques was simply just this brush that just kept giving us all these broad strokes,
14:20and we were defining where our characters were going, and he would slightly guide us.
14:26And I remember the respect that he had for the story,
14:31that he was constantly writing and rewriting and reshaping as we were going.
14:37And the way that he works with his crew, it almost felt, Emilia felt like a documentary at times.
14:44It felt like a journalistic sort of voyage into a story that felt sometimes so real and familiar,
14:54and yet felt completely distant and experimental.
14:58It was definitely an experience, but Jacques was a part of that experience as well
15:04versus conducting it all the time, you know?
15:07Awesome. Thank you.
15:08Sorry, the last two bits.
15:09Selina, true or false?
15:11Future season, only murders in the building.
15:14Mabel will be the killer.
15:16You know what? I'm not going to lie.
15:18I did pitch them.
15:21I don't think it's going to work out, but who knows?
15:25You never know.
15:26I think it could work.
15:27Zoe, Avatar.
15:29Do you know what happens to your character in this world down the line?
15:32A lot.
15:33I think we saw what happened in the second film, you know, The Way of Water,
15:38and they're going to continue evolving into that journey of healing and grief,
15:43but also fighting to protect what they believe is very, very sacred.
15:48Jim told me you could tell us all about the movie if you want.
15:51I'm not going to fall for that.
15:53And then the final question, has everyone been asked to contribute to Selina's next album?
15:58Because you can all sing, obviously.
16:00Now that you're suggesting it, I'm waiting.
16:02I'll wait for that one.
16:03Okay, all right, maybe.
16:05I don't even have one yet.
16:07Ooh, we'll pitch her.
16:09You're pitching Mabel, they're pitching you albums.
16:11Great.
16:12Thank you so much for being with me today, and Amelia Perez is remarkable.
16:18Thank you so much.