Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofia Gascón has spoken candidly about her performance in Jacques Audiard’s one-of-a-kind Spanish language musical, saying that making history with an Oscar nomination is a possibility out of her control.
The actress, a trans woman, has been the recipient of critical acclaim since the film debuted in Cannes, winning her the best actress prize alongside co-stars Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez in May. Gascón masters two roles: one, a notorious cartel leader, and the other, a trans woman, Emilia Pérez, who has been receiving female hormone therapy for two years and is ready to complete the gender-affirming process by faking her death and leaving her life of crime behind.
At the San Sebastian Film Festival in Gascón’s native Spain on Sunday, the 52-year-old discussed the Oscar buzz she’s been picking up after it was reported she’ll be submitted for lead actress consideration. If nominated, she would be the first openly trans actress to land an Academy Award nod.
Gascón spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, her words a translator’s rendition, on the Spanish coast about why she wants the focus placed solely on her acting.
“You can do whatever you want to win [the Oscar], if you’re not gonna win it, you’re not gonna win it,” she said at the Hotel Maria Cristina. “I can’t do any more than present my work. If it happens, it would be wonderful for me as an actress — which is important. Sometimes, some people think they’ve given you the prize because you are from a particular community, not for your role, which annoys me.”
She continued: “I try to make sure what is happening has to do with my performance as an actress, because everything else is out of my control. I’m not trying to have false modesty here or anything like that, but I’ve done a role very few people could have done.”
“Of course, I understand the importance of my collective and the people I belong to, but the only thing that I can really do is act. I want the important to be there as well,” she added.
Gascón spoke about wanting to “applaud France” and Audiard for making a film in Spanish submitted for Oscar consideration. She described being amazed by how the French have opened themselves up to her work and the world of Latin America.
“The French, they love their own language. They’re very much their own people,” Gascón said. “That the French have been able to open themselves up and make a film like this in Spanish, these characters from Latin America, is incredible. For a French director and a French crew to do a film like this I think is an amazing thing.”
Gascón spoke exclusively to THR with Saldana and Gomez for Telluride about the bond they have created, their paths to the project, and how it’s already reshaping their careers.
Emilia Pérez screens at the San Sebastian Film Festival running from Sept. 20-28. Read THR‘s review of the film and the “divine” Gascón here.
