Jacques Audiard‘s highly anticipated musical crime comedy, “Emilia Perez,” will start shooting in the spring with Karla Sofia Gascón, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña.
Filming was delayed by six months due to some scheduling conflicts with cast members and is now slated to begin in April, Variety has learned.
Gascón, an up-and-coming Argentinian trans actor, will play a feared, on-the-run Mexican cartel leader who has a sex change to get away from the law and become the woman he’s always wanted to be.
“Emilia Perez” was previously set to shoot in Mexico but will now be filming in a studio near Paris, as per Audiard’s wish.
The script was penned by Audiard. Bidegain, who collaborated on Audiard’s most successful films, including “A Prophet” and the Palme d’Or winner “Dheepan,” collaborated on the script.
“Emilia Perez” is produced by Why Not Productions and Page 114. The Veterans, Vincent Maraval and Kim Fox’s banner, which are handling international sales. CAA Media Finance is representing North American territories.
The film will mark Audiard’s follow-up to “Paris, 13th District,” a black-and-white relationship drama which world premiered in competition at Cannes in 2021. Audiard previously made his English-language directorial debut with “The Sisters Brothers,” which starred Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and John C. Reilly. The movie won best director at Venice in 2018 and won four Cesar awards. Audiard, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with “Dheepan” in 2015, is best known for his Oscar-nominated film “A Prophet” in which Tahar Rahim delivered a breakthrough performance.
