TORONTO (AP) â Karla SofĂa GascĂłnâs performance in as a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirmation surgery to become a woman has brought her global acclaim and set GascĂłn on a path that may make her the first openly transgender actor ever nominated for an Oscar. But on this morning, sheâs feeling contemplative.
âI woke up with such a philosophical streak,â GascĂłn says, smiling. âIn life, everything can be good or bad. We are a mix of so many things. There are things that make you happy and instead they make you sad, or the other way around.â
The dichotomies of life are a fitting subject for Jacques Audiardâs âEmilia PĂ©rez,â a film that puts just about every genre â musical, crime thriller, melodrama â into a grandiose mixer, and, by sheer nerve, manages to coalesce into one of the yearâs most memorable movie experiences. âEmilia PĂ©rez,â which began streaming Wednesday on Netflix, is widely expected to be a best picture nominee.
At the center of the âEmilia PĂ©rezâ phenomenon â which began with â is GascĂłn who plays both the menacing cartel kingpin Manitas and the woman who emerges after Manitas fakes his own death, Emilia PĂ©rez. Years later, Emilia contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Zoe Saldaña) to her reunite with her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children.
The wild swings of âEmilia PĂ©rezâ â a movie that has earned comparisons to both âSicarioâ and âMrs. Doubtfireâ â wouldnât be possible without GascĂłn. In Cannes, she and her co-stars which GascĂłn accepted.
âWeâve been insulted, denigrated, subjected to a lot of violence without even knowing why,â GascĂłn said that evening. âI think this is award is so much more than anyone could imagine.â
Now, GascĂłn is to be nominated for best actress at the Academy Awards. At a time when trans rights in the U.S. are the subject of , GascĂłn is on the cusp of making trans history. (Only cisgender actors have previously been Oscar nominated for playing trans roles.) But, when GascĂłn sat down for an interview a few hours before the premiere of âEmilia PĂ©rezâ at the in September, she was more inclined to gently muse about what might be in store for her.
âIâm a little like Nostradamus. I like to think about what can happen. But at the end of the day, it doesnât really matter,â GascĂłn says. âIf it does happen, I would be so grateful. It would be a beautiful thing. But if it doesnât, whatever. Iâd go back to my old life. Iâll do my grocery shopping. Iâll play with cats. Iâll see my family. Maybe Iâll do other jobs and people will like those jobs.
âI like to go lightly in my life,â she adds, smiling.
GascĂłn, 52, is Spanish and lives in Mexico. She spoke through an interpreter but understands English enough to sometimes giggle and shake her head at her own words while they're being translated. She was a regular in Mexican telenovels before transitioning in 2018.
âAll people that live in a body that they donât feel matches who they truly are do suffer one way or the other. But in my case, I feel like I handled it quite well,â GascĂłn says. âI always tried to be happy with the life I had, even before my transition. Maybe I chose to do this job as an actor because I wasnât quite happy with my life with the way I was before, so I wanted to experiment with other lives.â
Playing Emilia PĂ©rez was in many ways a giant leap for GascĂłn. She had to change her voice (she uses a Mexican accent in the film), work on singing and movement, and change her posture. But there were also things GascĂłn shared with her character. GascĂłn has a 13-year-old daughter from a marriage pre-transition with whom she remains close.
âWe all find it hard to accept the loss of the people we love. You constantly try to get back your loved ones,â GascĂłn says. âThatâs what I tried to implement in the character. This is what does unite me with the character â doing everything possible to get back the people you love. Itâs been a constant in my life. And sometimes itâs impossible.â
Audiard, the protean French filmmaker, has long specialized in films of transformation and metamorphosis, including âA Prophet,â âDheepanâ and âRust and Bone.â He initially balked, though, at having GascĂłn play Manitas as well as Emilia. For GascĂłn, it would mean returning to a male persona, something Audiard hesitated to ask of her. But GascĂłn insisted. To her, the only kind of character she doesnât want to play is a boring one.
âIf I was asked to play Abraham Lincoln tomorrow, Iâd love it. Bring it on! For me, the farther the character is from me in real life, the better,â GascĂłn says.
âIâve met actresses who had a hard time stepping back and going through stuff that was part of their past. They would cry and take it badly. Never for me.â
In conversation, GascĂłn seems still tickled by the whole experience. Sheâs delighted that many people donât realize Manitas is played by her. She laughs at how a movie about a violent drug lord, someone whoâd normally be a villain, should inspire so much empathy. And for someone with a very big spotlight on her, she seems remarkably at peace.
âIf I were asked to do my life over again, Iâd probably do it exactly as it was, with all of it,â GascĂłn says. âItâs wonderful that one gets to experience with these two poles, these two extremes. In a way, itâd be wonderful if all of us had access to this. Having done that allowed to me to better understand so many things that werenât so clear to me before. In the end, what I realized is that weâre all the same.â
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
