PARIS, Feb 6 — Rarely has a film fallen from favour so quickly: after gaining a record number of Oscar nominations for a foreign-language movie, narco-musical Emilia Perez has become embroiled in scandal linked to past social media posts by star Karla Sofia Gascon.
Gascon, the first transgender woman Oscar nominee for best actress, has seen her path to glory seriously compromised by her posts about Islam, US anti-racism protests, and even the Oscars themselves which she called an “ugly gala”.
From being a symbol of diversity embraced by Hollywood, she has risked alienating left-leaning members of the Academy who decide the Oscar winners — despite her apologies and insistence that she is “not a racist”.
Hollywood trade outlets reported that distributor Netflix, which was banking on Emilia Perez for its first best picture Oscar, had dropped the 52-year-old from its campaign and distanced itself from the best actress nominee.
A Netflix web page promoting the film “for your awards consideration” contained an image of Zoe Saldana, the movie’s best supporting actress nominee. Contacted by AFP, Netflix declined to comment.
Emilia Perez French director Jacques Audiard yesterday disavowed his lead actress, calling Gascon’s original social media posts “inexcusable” and “absolutely hateful.”
Audiard told trade outlet Deadline that by continuing to lash out at her critics, Gascon’s “self-destructive approach” was now “harming people who were very close to her,” including himself, Saldana, and co-star Selena Gomez.
The mostly Spanish-language movie that was filmed in France and set in Mexico was nominated for 13 Oscars, as well as 11 BAFTAs, Britain’s equivalent to the Oscars, and 12 Cesars in France.
It picked up four Golden Globes in January, including for best comedy or musical.
Adriana Paz, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, and Zoe Saldana, winners of the Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy award for ‘Emilia Perez,’ pose at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California January 5, 2025. — Reuters pic
Trans politics
Even as it was winning awards and sweeping the nominations season, criticism was growing in Mexico about its depictions of the country, as well as the lack of Mexicans in the cast.
Gascon, who is Spanish, plays a drug cartel boss who transitions to life as a woman and turns her back on crime in the highly unusual musical thriller.
Thousands of Mexicans have given the film the lowest possible rating on online movie review websites IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, where it currently has an 18 per cent audience ranking.
Speaking to AFP last month, Audiard said the issue of drug trafficking was “something close to my heart” while acknowledging that “maybe I handled it clumsily”.
The movie’s representation of trans issues has also left some people in the community uneasy, while the use of artificial intelligence to increase Gascon’s voice range has led to criticism in some quarters, even if post-production voice tweaking is common in the industry.
The GLAAD advocacy group, which monitors representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the US media, called the film a “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman”.
Mexican writer Jorge Volpi called the production “one of the crudest and most misleading films of the 21st century.”
Spillover effect
Critics now are wondering how much the off-screen controversies will affect the results of the Oscars when they are announced on March 2.
At a peak moment in Hollywood’s award season, Gascon will conspicuously no longer attend events including tomorrow’s Critics Choice Awards gala, as previously scheduled.
Scandals have not always prevented films from going on to enjoy success.
Green Book, a 2018 drama based on the real-life story of a Black musician and his white driver in the 1960s Deep South, was widely condemned for perpetuating “white savior” stereotypes.
A tweet also surfaced during Oscars campaigning, in which one of the movie’s producers expressed support for false claims that Muslims were celebrating in New Jersey following the 9/11 terror attacks.
It went on to win best picture. — AFP
