Zoe Saldaña gives a new take on it Emilia Perez in France!
During the 2024 Cannes Film Festival press conference attended by PEOPLE on Sunday, May 19, the actress, 45, opened up about how her new film represents Mexican culture.
“I’ve lived in Los Angeles for about 20 years. Mexican culture is something that is dear to my heart. I still have a lot of family,” said Saldaña, who promotes the festival Emilia Perez with Selena Gomez, Édgar Ramírez and other stars.
Selena Gomez, Édgar Ramírez, Zoe Saldaña, Jacques Audiard, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19.
Dominique Charriau/WireImage
Selena Gomez cries like Emilia Perez The film earned several minutes – a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival
The Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy the actress mentioned the injustices and corruption in Mexico, but noted, “I believe that’s true for all countries in the world, and I still have great respect and admiration for Mexican culture.”
IN Emilia PerezSaldaña portrays Rita Moro Castro, an underrated lawyer at a big firm who is hired to help cartel leader Manitas secretly complete a sex-change operation to “become the woman he’s always dreamed of being” as Manitas nears retirement.
The upcoming film – directed and written by Jacques Audiard – is described as a musical thriller and stars Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón, who is trans, as Manitas and Gomez as Manitas’ wife Jessi.
Zoe Saldaña and her lookalike sister Cisely appear together on the glamorous red carpet
Saldaña praised Audiardo’s work on the film, saying she was “very grateful” that he “used a lot of creative freedom and liberty” to tell the story.
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“He has this story that describes a number of things that you can find in Mexico that need to be improved in other countries,” Saldaña said. “But he celebrates the culture, which is so beautiful, and so rich, and so artistic.”
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Zoe Saldaña at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on May 18.
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty
Zoe Saldaña and her look-alike sister Cisely appear together on the glamorous red carpet
Emilia Perez had its world premiere at the festival on Saturday, May 18, where it received a standing ovation that lasted nearly 10 minutes, a moment that made Gomez cry and wipe away tears.
At the press conference, Costar Gascón also spoke up for trans rights.
“People who are trans are often the subject of insults or death threats simply because they exist,” Gascón said. “In Mexico we use very harsh terms when we address trans people, often people can be very rude. That’s a real question.”
“I think trans people should be treated like everyone else. I am neither better nor worse than someone else,” added Gascón. “We must continue to fight for our rights. We have to get on with our lives. … We are allowed to change it because we want to, we can make decisions about our own body. I wanted to be a trans woman.”
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Gascón went on to talk about the character he plays in the film.
“What I think is very important in this character [Manitas] and in the film made by Jacques is the following: It is quite clear that trans people, we trans people are only human. We are trans people, we are human,” said Gascón. “It’s not like we’re some kind of blemish on the world. We are people like others and have existed since the beginning of the world.”
Selena Gomez wowed in a beautiful black and white dress at the Cannes Film Festival — check out her look!
After the film’s release, Saldaña is expected to star in the next two Avatar films, which should be released in 2025 and 2029 respectively. The actress is also raising her three sons, twins Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio (9) and Zen Anton Hilario (7), whom she shares with her husband Marco Perego-Saldaña.
In a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, the actress talked about raising her boys without gender roles and teaching them “to respect women and celebrate women.” She said it’s “very important” to teach them to “respect themselves, their femininity, to celebrate their femininity.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education