“Emilia Pérez” director Jacques Audiard is making an effort to distance himself from the film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón, who has been making headlines recently due to unearthed tweets which were deemed controversial.
Gascón, a man who identifies as a woman and who is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, is currently taking heat for the tweets after being celebrated by the media for his role in the film. The tweets in question include critical statements on Muslims and George Floyd, to name a few. The Golden Globe-winning actor has made multiple apologies, but is still being ostracized in Hollywood.
Audiard spoke with Deadline about his feelings on Gascón now that the Oscars are less than a month away. The film is up for 13 awards, and according to reports, Gascón will not be attending any industry events related to the film.
The director responded to a question about the tweets, saying they are “taking up all the space” in the conversations about the transgender musical drama “Emilia Pérez” and that it makes him “very sad.”
“It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía,” Audiard told the outlet. “The trust we shared, the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust. And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.”
When asked if he spoke with Gascón, the director said he had not. Audiard referenced Gascón using feminine pronouns and said, “I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing. Why is she harming herself?”
He continued, “I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this too is why she’s harming people who were very close to her. … I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of [other ‘Emilia Pérez’ stars] Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez]. I just don’t understand why she’s continuing to harm us.”
“She’s really playing the victim,” Audiard told Deadline. “She’s talking about herself as a victim, which is surprising. It’s as if she thought that words don’t hurt.”
Earlier this week, Gascón told CNN en Español that he was “not racist” and again apologized for the tweets, saying “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.”
