Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard says it was a simple decision for him to cast a trans woman in the title role of his award-winning film.
Audiard, whose film picked up a Best Actress award shared between the female cast at Cannes Film Festival this summer, cast Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón in the role of mobster turned activist.
He told The Times of London this weekend: “It just makes sense to cast a trans woman to portray a trans woman. And the specificity of Karla Sofía is that she transitioned at 46, and that informs her performance.
What does it mean to have suffered for 46 years, and then not to suffer any more?” Of potential controversy arising from the subject matter of the film, Audiard said: “I take a very specific viewpoint here.