Zoe Saldaña’s Spanish-speaking role in ‘Emilia Pérez’ was a long time coming, says the star

(CNN) — Zoe Saldaña has already given us so much – emotionally pivotal characters in three bestselling film franchises, on top of a long list of TV and movie credits – her role in Netflix’s genre-busting new thriller/musical hybrid “Emilia Pérez” feels like icing on a very rich cake.

The “Avatar” star acts, sings and even raps in “Pérez,” and does it all in Spanish, her first major role in the language. Saldaña – whose father was from the Dominican Republic and mother is Puerto Rican – told Elle Magazine in an interview published this week that the opportunity to use her bilingual fluency “never really came” before now.

“Either the project just wasn’t the right fit for me or an Afro-Caribbean Latina wasn’t the right fit for the project,” she said.

“It’s a combination of a director’s vision, which you want to be respectful of and honor, and the other side, colonialism and colorism, which is rampant in Latin America,” Saldaña added. “I was very much like, ‘Well, that’s okay, I’m going to dance to the beat of my own drum and I’ll go to space and I’ll be green and I’ll be blue (in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Avatar” films, respectively) and I’ll do all those things.’ Then 15 years go by, and I’m yearning for that reconnection.”

“Emilia Pérez,” directed by Jacques Audiard and based on the 2018 novel “Écoute” by Boris Razon, opens with Saldaña’s Rita, an overworked and underappreciated lawyer in Mexico who wins a case and becomes ensnared in a cartel boss’s dealings.

The opening number alone is enough to indicate that “Pérez” is unlike any movie musical to come before it, and it’s led by Saldaña, in elaborate sequences that weave in and out of reality and involve teams of supporting players and backup dancers.

In the film, the menacing cartel boss named Manitas enlists Rita’s help with a secret he has long held private – his desire to transition to becoming a woman. Portrayed by Karla Sofía Gascón, Manitas’ journey to becoming Emilia Pérez is the heart of the movie, shepherded by Saldaña’s Rita and set against the struggles of Manitas’ uninformed and disillusioned wife Jessi (Selena Gomez).

The trio of actresses, along with Adriana Paz, who plays Emilia’s love interest in the second half of the film, won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Saldaña credited casting directors as some of the women in Hollywood who have supported her professionally. She called them “amazing women who are always finding these diamonds in the rough” in her interview with Elle.

“Where would I have been if it weren’t for these women?” Saldaña asked, explaining how specific and fastidious they were in helping her put her best foot forward in taped auditions.

“There were directors and producers who were like, ‘We want to go traditional, I don’t think she’s right for the part.’ And they would be like, ‘No, no, you need to watch her.’”

“Emilia Pérez” is streaming now on Netflix.

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