By: Mark Aguilar
After receiving 13 nominations for the 97th Academy Awards, just one shy of the all-time record and the most ever for a non-English language film, it seemed Netflix had a huge success with Emilia Pérez. The film began its awards journey after its premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and Best Actress award for its four female leads. Since then, Emilia Pérez has racked up several nominations and wins at other major awards bodies, including the Golden Globes, the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), the Directors Guild of America Awards (DGA) and the Producers Guild Awards (PGA).
Despite being one of the most nominated films during awards season, many controversies have surrounded the film. This includes the film’s director Jacques Audiard, and his comments on the Spanish language and his lack of research into the film’s setting and culture in Mexico. Recent offensive tweets discovered to be made by Karla Sofía Gascón, the titular character, have caused more outrage that can potentially derail Emilia Pérez’s Oscar campaign.
Gascón made history by becoming the first transgender woman to be nominated for the Best Actress at the 97th annual Academy Awards. Despite this landmark achievement, Gascón’s image quickly faded as some of her old tweets on her official X account resurfaced. These tweets included insensitive comments about the Muslim community, the LGBTQ+ community, the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of George Floyd, diversity at the Oscars and more.
Gascón’s tweets were blatantly racist, antisemitic, homophobic and xenophobic. After the discovery of these tweets, Gascón posted a lengthy apology on Instagram, followed by an official statement with Netflix.
Gascón stated: “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
Gascón then set up an hour-long interview with CNN en Español that was unauthorized by Netflix. In this interview, she reiterated many points she stated in her Instagram post and talked in-depth about many of the tweets she posted.
“I believe I have been judged, I have been convicted and sacrificed and crucified and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself,” she said.
Gascón deleted her X account and did not attend the Critics' Choice Awards, where she was nominated for Best Actress and Emilia Pérez for Best Picture.
Audiard has distanced himself from the actress and revealed in an interview with Deadline that he has not spoken to her since the controversy began. This comes amid Audiard’s own controversy surrounding comments he made about the Spanish language in an interview in France.
“Spanish is a language of modest countries, of developing countries, of the poor and migrants,” he said to French media about why the film had to be in Spanish.
The French director previously admitted to not having thoroughly researched Mexico, despite the film’s plot revolving around a Mexican cartel boss transitioning to become female and then helping families find the bodies of their loved ones who had been killed or gone missing due to gang violence in the country.
Emilia Pérez’s reputation has taken a huge hit after these controversies, and this comes after the film was already heavily divisive between critics and general audiences. Despite being embraced by the industry at many awards bodies, general audiences have panned the film with a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 2.2/5 rating on Letterboxd.
The film has seemingly fallen out of favor for Best Picture for current front-runner Anora, as well as The Brutalist, Conclave, Wicked and A Complete Unknown having better chances now. Gascón will definitely not win Best Actress with Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres and Mikey Madison all contending for the Oscar.
Audiard is also nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. However, he is no longer in winning contention for either as front-runners Sean Baker and Brady Corbet are likely competing for the win in the directing category, and Peter Straughan being the front-runner for his screenplay for Conclave.
Finally, Zoe Saldaña remains the unscathed front-runner for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Pérez. Her most likely competitor in the category is likely Ariana Grande in Wicked.
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