Latina Actors Selena Gómez and Zoe Saldaña Join Forces in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez

No one would be surprised if Selena Gómez decided to rest on her laurels after joining the billionaire celebrity rich list, but that’s far from the case. After her grand success on the Hulu TV series Only Murders in the Building, the Latina actor and singer teamed up with none other than another Latina actor Zoe Saldaña, known for her roles in Avatar and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Their new joint venture? Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, will hit select theaters this fall, before landing on Netflix on Nov. 13 in the US, Canada, and the UK.

A Spanish Speaking and Latino Actor Cast

Directed by French film director, producer, and screenwriter Jacques Audiard, this Spanish-language musical melodrama is the perfect mixture of crime and comedy. It is based on his opera libretto of the same name, which was also a loose adaptation of the French novel Écoute, written by Boris Razon in 2018.

The plot revolves around Rita (portrayed by Saldaña), an overlooked and overqualified lawyer from a large firm in Mexico. She is contacted by cartel kingpin Manitas, who hires Rita to help them fake their death and restart their life thanks to gender reassignment surgery. After this ordeal, Manitas identity becomes: Emilia Pérez. The challenging role of Emilia is brought to life by Spanish transgender actor Karla Sofía Gascón.

As for Gómez, she portrays Jessi, the cartel kingpin’s ex-wife, whose life is turned upside down after her spouse’s drastic decision. Given Gómez’s success as a singer, it was only natural that she would perform several musical numbers throughout the film, such as an eccentric song about consumerism that sets just the right tone for a ‘narco cartel’ plot. 

Other Latinx actors who take part in this movie are Mexican actor Adriana Paz (portraying Epifanía) and Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramírez (playing Gustavo).

Highly Acclaimed Film So When Can We Watch Emilia Pérez

Being a French production, Emilia Pérez first premiered on May 18th 2024 at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where history was made by Karla Sofía Gascón. Her brilliant performance won her the Best Actress Award, an unprecedented event for the transgender community worldwide. A similar case was seen with the Chilean film Una mujer fantástica (2017), which won the Oscar award for the best International Feature Film thanks to the leading role of transgender actress Daniela Vega.

Regarding online critiques, with an approval rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and an average of 71/100 on Metacritic, this brand new film is creating buzz and will probably continue that way for a long while. Now that it has secured rights for the movie, Netflix will feature Emilia Pérez on its platform from November 13th. 

Gómez and Saldaña’s Views on Latina Representation in Cinema

Even though Selena Gómez wasn’t born in Mexico and lost Spanish fluency at a young age, she is still considered Latina both by herself and by the Latinx community and has even suffered for it. During an interview with Allure Magazine, the renowned actor stated that her father Ricardo, who is of Mexican descent, had suffered discrimination due to his race back in Texas: “They used a derogatory term [to refer to] my father, and I just remember him being like, ‘Don’t say anything, don’t do anything.’” This bitter experience has led her to produce Living Undocumented, a Netflix documentary that tells the heartbreaking stories of undocumented immigrants in the US.

During the shoot of Emilia Pérez, the language barrier proved to be a “challenge” for Selena, a weak point that she confessed during an interview with AP News: “I’m not as happy with what I feel I could’ve done in Spanish, but overall I hope it doesn’t hinder my performance and I’m really grateful for the opportunity. Perhaps I could’ve had more time with it, but I was full throttle and I wanted to be a part of this so badly.” Lucky for her, her fellow cast members supported her on every step of the way and recognized her hard work.

As for Saldaña, she is a proud Afro-Latina of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, and expresses her solidarity with her community every chance she gets. For instance, during an interview with Hola! USA, she gave her own definition on what “Latinx” means: “To me ‘X’ represents me and doesn’t exclude me the moment a man walks in a room,” she said. “So I can be in a room full of women and we’re all Latinas and the moment that one male walks in the room we are Latinos. My gender and my presence is erased. Our language (Spanish) is based on this language division that favors masculinity.”

Saldaña, an A-list actor has also suffered mistreatment for her gender when she became a mom, a topic we explored in our article about Latinas and pregnancy discrimination.

Emilia Pérez: Watch The Trailer

In case you were intrigued by this brand new film and wish to watch it soon, you can begin by taking a look at the trailer and watch these incredible Latina reinas bring their talent to the screen! And remember: just because it’s not an English-speaking film, it doesn’t make it less interesting or relevant for an US Latino, English speaking audience (subtitles or English voice overs make it easy, wink). It’s important for us to better understand our Latino diversity and diverse stories—And what better way of doing that than to watch amazing Latina actors get outside their comfort zones and take on complex roles.

Grab some palomitas 🍿 and say ¡Luz, cámara, acción!