Meryl Streep Hosts ‘Emilia Pérez’ Screening, Q&A With Selena Gomez

Meryl Streep hosted a star-studded screening of Emilia Pérez on Wednesday at the San Vicente Bungalows, followed by a Q&A with her Only Murders in the Building co-star Selena Gomez, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

Guests at the intimate gathering included fellow Only Murders alums Martin Short, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Jesse Williams, as well as Nia Vardalos, Jeremy Piven, Jason Bateman, Annette Bening, Pom Klementieff and Thora Birch, among others.

After Streep posed a number of questions to Gomez, the three-time Oscar winner invited questions from the audience. Bening was the first who was called on. A portion of the Q&A appears below.

Emilia Pérez, written and directed by Jacques Audiard, stars Gomez alongside Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz. The film follows a feared cartel leader who enlists a lawyer to help her disappear while achieving her dream of transitioning into a woman. At May’s Cannes Film Festival, the fest jury bestowed upon the film a jury prize and Gomez, Saldaña, Gascón and Paz the best actress award. France has since submitted it for the best international feature Oscar competition, and the film is widely regarded as a top contender in many other categories.

Numerous industry A-listers have championed Emilia Pérez, including Guillermo del Toro, who after a screening at the Directors Guild of America in October, moderated a Q&A with Audiard during which he declared, “It’s so beautiful to see a movie that is cinema” and said of Audiard, “I think he’s one of the most amazing filmmakers alive today.”

Others who have hosted events for Emilia Pérez include Michael Mann (who called it a “contemporary masterpiece”), Tom McCarthy and Taylor Hackford. It has been publicly praised by the likes of Madonna, America Ferrera, Naomi Campbell, Leslie Bibb, Jeremy O. Harris, Ashley Park, Daisy Ridley, Jayson Shetty, Eva Longoria and Jason Reitman.

See below for a transcript of the Q&A.

MERYL STREEP There’s so much in this movie. I just want to know how you did it.

SELENA GOMEZ Basically, when I first got the script, I thought it was amazing. I thought it was thought-provoking, audacious and this role, I felt like it was going to be something special, but having those little details were so crucial, and a lot of it would just be the director, Jacques Audiard, his vision would change within two seconds. He would want to throw us off, and I enjoyed all of it. I don’t think there was a way for me to do this. I just had to be thrown into it. The first scene I ever shot when I went on set was the end of the movie.

STREEP It was beautiful. It was beautiful. It was just a beautiful, smudged, sensual, incredible performance. 

GOMEZ I can’t believe she’s saying this. Thank you. 

STREEP Just gorgeous, gorgeous. And that song, I want to be myself…

GOMEZ “Mi Camino.”

STREEP “Mi Camino.” Yeah! 

GOMEZ It was interesting because originally there was another song that my character was meant to do, which was much more abrasive and aggressive, similar to “Bienvenida,” which was my first number. After Jacques met me, he told the composers that it didn’t feel necessarily like me when he met me. So he asked the composers, Clément [Ducol] and Camille, to watch my documentary. And after they watched it, you actually read those words, and it was inspired by that, which in a way, I relate to that song. It was special. It felt like it was crafted for me, and we had a great time. And it’s a beautiful song.

STREEP It is a beautiful song. … How much time did you have getting ready? Or did you have a first reading and was the music there?

GOMEZ I didn’t have a lot of rehearsal, so it was basically a little bit more nerve-racking for me, because Zoe already had the part, so she was working on it far longer than I was. Apparently, I had the part, I just didn’t know that I did. This is very confusing. I’ve been doing months of press with all of my amazing cast and crew, and then Jacques laughed at one of our last ones and said, “I don’t know why you say that you auditioned and waited. You had the part.” And so from now on, I just look at him, and I’m like, I spent nine months in hell waiting to know if I got in this movie. Then. I’m in Paris a month later. It was crazy.

STREEP I remember when you said, “Yeah, I’m going to Paris.”

GOMEZ Yeah, you were there! 

STREEP I thought, “Oh, that’s exciting.” I had no idea you were doing this. 

GOMEZ I don’t think I did either. I’m very proud of it. I’m so grateful for you doing this.

STREEP Oh, I’m thrilled. I’m still reeling with it, I am. And your work is exquisite.

BENING Can you just tell me a little bit about how Jacques conceived the entire thing? You said he doesn’t speak Spanish?

GOMEZ Here’s the thing about Jacques. He’s actually done multiple films in different languages, but he only speaks French and a little English. What blows my mind about it is that he comes at it from an approach of, and these are his words, he basically says, “The melody of the language is so beautiful to me.” And he says, “I feel when I do movies in French, I’m so focused on the words and not necessarily the emotion of what the actor is feeling.” Our scripts were in English, Spanish and French, but he knew what the intentions were meant to be. So he would listen to the melody, and he would understand that that’s what he’s capturing. I loved that.