Karla Sofía Gascón Gets Emotional Discussing Return to U.S.
Karla Sofía Gascón became tearful while discussing her possible return to the U.S., explaining that though she believes Emilia Pérez will be a cult film, she feels as though the trans community are “losing their freedom” around the world.
The Oscar-nominated star spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet of Madrid’s Platino Awards Sunday night, Ibero-America’s annual film and TV awards ceremony.
While Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical about a drug cartel owner’s transition into womanhood was initially received warmly throughout the festival circuit — with a best actress win for Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez in Cannes — things went awry for Netflix‘s top Oscar contender when controversial tweets of Gascón’s resurfaced.
Gascón, the first trans woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, was found to have written racist posts years before her ascension to Hollywood. Statements about the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the Muslim population in her native Spain soon left her shut out of the awards race entirely (and hindering the chances of everyone involved in Emilia Pérez). She apologized at the time: “I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain.”
When asked by THR if she would consider returning to the U.S. and its film industry, Gascón replied in Spanish, which was later translated: “I’m looking forward to it. The question is whether when I get to the United States everything will be okay.”
She continued, alluding to President Trump’s executive orders that targeted transgender, nonbinary and intersex people: “I hope so, but if they don’t let me in or they don’t let me work because they consider that I am not a sufficiently qualified person or they want to discriminate against me because of my sexuality, then it will be very difficult.”
“But I hope so. I’m looking forward to doing millions of things in the United States because I think it’s a wonderful country full of something that we have all wished for in this world, which is freedom, and we are losing it. We are losing it.”
On how Emilia Pérez has changed her life, she replied: “Well, it has changed radically because it was a film that, for me, is already part of the history of cinema and that is going to be a cult film. Obviously that brings with it an implicit responsibility, especially after everything that has happened around the film and around trans people.”
“I think the moment takes on greater relevance,” she added, “and we are in a very complicated and difficult time in which I sincerely feel like one of the first victims of all this hate.”
Gascón also spoke about what projects she has coming up, including an Italian film The Life Lift where she plays a psychiatrist who embodies “the devil and god.” She has another film in Argentina, she told THR, one in Spain, and a French film about a blues singer attempting to adopt a girl from a refugee camp.
Latin America’s 12th edition of the Platino Awards take place Sunday night in Madrid, Spain.
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