There’s been a lot of eyerolling at all the standing ovations in Cannes and how many minutes the ovations last for – so many and so often that the ovations have, arguably, become meaningless.

 

That, however, is not the case for Jacques Audiard’s film Emilia Pérez which received a ten minute standing ovation and became one of the breakout premieres of the festival, securing a Netflix deal, and ultimately winning the Jury Prize. Also the Cannes Best Actress award was given to the four women of the cast: Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and the film’s lead Karla Sofía Gascón. 

 

Emilia Pérez is an ambitious work, a crime musical about the head of a cartel who wants to quit the game and come into their true identity as a woman. Karla Sofía Gascón is now the first trans actress to win in Cannes. During the festival, after the film’s rapturous reception, she talked to THR about what happens next. In the previous post to this one, I wrote about Jesse Plemons and how he’s now part of the Oscar conversation after being named Best Actor in Cannes. Is this possible for Karla? 

 

Here’s what she said about her plans going forwared: 

“I hope to go to my house and to see my cat. It’s strange but sometimes we need to remain calm and let things be. Obviously, I want to work with more directors like Jacques but I am conscious that it’s very difficult to find more roles like this. I don’t know what will happen with me tomorrow, or in one month. I do have an intuition that my career now may turn more to America or United States. But I don’t know. I really don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I have some favorite directors that I love to work with in my own country in Spain, Pedro Almodóvar, or in the States, Quentin Tarantino. Of course, there are others from other times like George Lucas or Steven Spielberg that there are many of them. So I just don’t know. I’m just open to whatever comes.”

 

“Whatever comes” should be at the very least a much bigger profile and, perhaps(?), an award season run. Here’s Karla’s speech at the award ceremony the other night. If you haven’t seen it already, get ready to fist-pump. 

 

As for her cast mates, Selena Gomez shared her reaction to the news on IG stories: 

 

This, for Selena, is yet another professional achievement adding to a now long and growing list of professional achievements. And here’s the thing about her that we don’t talk about enough because she is so often in the headlines for her personal life and fan-fueled and, sometimes, self-fueled drama: she makes GREAT career moves. From producing 13 Reasons Why to Selena and Chef to Only Murders in the Building to this moment, a co-Best Actress winner at Cannes, Selena Gomez is actually killing it at work. And, as she gets deeper in her 30s, it’s going to be so interesting to watch her build on this experience and these successes. 

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